“Apple’s new series of iPhone ads may hint at new features that were previously unmentioned. The ad entitled ‘Calamari’ shows a button at the bottom of the screen that reads ‘Directions To Here’ which would mean that the iPhone has GPS [Global Positioning System] capabilities,” LoopRumors reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, there’s another obvious posssibility here: the user could be required to tell the phone where it’s currently located in order to get the proper directions.
“A local trucking company also confirmed that an AT&T salesman pitched selling the company a large number of iPhones at a discount, as low as $249 for a bulk order of over 100 phones,” LoopRumors reports. “‘He promoted the iPhone as “a great way to monitor and track where the trucks were throughout the country by using its GPS functionality.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Not sure what’s going on with this bit, but if we had a nickel for every time a salesman pitched us something incorrectly…
Full article here.
Apple’s iPhone “Calamari” ad:
If it had GPS functionality, don’tcha think Steve would’ve mentioned that by now? Or that it would’ve been mentioned somewhere on the website? I don’t think so. The Google Maps feature works by setting a preference with your current zip code.
The AT&T guy that offered the discount must be a fool. By all accounts, there will be a short supply. Why discount when you have more people wanting to buy the product than have products available?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Kind of a jump thinking that. Clearly Google maps has the same thing on your computer and the you type in your starting address.
Nice way to get hits though.
these type of stupid rumors bring downa stock price after an anouncement – lets stop building castles in the air.
MDN – pls do not even publish this nonsense – cos on Jun 29 people will say its a great phone but no GPS
A good reason for Jobs not to have mentioned GPS functionality in the iPhone is that doing so would allow their competitors to add similar functionality to their newest phones. You can be sure that since the January announcement/unveiling of the iPhone, Apple’s competitors in the phone biz have been scrambling to patch together new phones which in some cosmetic respects will appear to be in a class with the iPhone. Why help them?
ITS CONNECTED VIA WIFI PEOPLE!!!
jeeeeeze – why does common sense never prevail?!
why does it have to be some far fetched idea instead of ‘hmm- te wifi signal bars are present in the pics – maybe ‘direction to here’ works EXACTLY the way it does currently on google maps. you either have a profile set up with a ‘home’ location – or – you input your current location… and its found VIA WIFI.. or slowly via edge… by simply connecting to maps.google.com
crikey.
Todays news total: 13 stories
Todays iPhone stories: 7
iPhone, while very cool, has gotten alot of press today…
It’s just a freakin’ phone people.
It makes calls.
It receives calls.
what the hell else does it need?
The world is not such an interesting place that a reporter can have interesting news to report all the time. So, they make stuff up. Some reporters are not very good at finding the existing interesting things so they tend to make up more stuff than average. They are just looking for something interesting to say. It doesn’t have to be true, just interesting.
Reporters are very similar to lawyers in many regards.
“at a discount, as low as $249 for a bulk order of over 100 phones”
I think I see an investment opportunity here. Could I buy 100 phones at $249 and sell them on ebay when all the stores run out? Easy 2 bagger at least, in my estimation. Maybe more.
-c
alot is not a word. Look it up bozo!
If you look at the context of the ad. ‘Get directions to Here’ refers to the seafood place the user just searched for.
…and iPhone will get a lot MORE press in the coming weeks and months. Just get used to it. Or perhaps MDN needs to add another site “iPDN”…
Here’s the Reason, you nailed it. The truth is always an optional component to any news story.
The maps locations are arrived at by triangulation of the telco cell towers. They each have a specific IP address and location. The same system that emergency vehicles use to find people in distress. wi-fi is not location specific and its ip address does not have coordiantes to work a geography from. Such system is said to be accurrate within 15 feet which is good enough for phone-map work
Oh please. When you’re staring at an entry in Google Maps, you can always click to get directions “to here” (and “from here”). Hey, I guess my computer has GPS in it!!
noticed that the “get directions to here” buttons appear greyed out. Perhaps there is an add on similar to the Nike+ kit but for GPS is in the future?
It’s that E-911 aGPS stuff, I tell you.
It’s a requirement of all phones in America.
It’s what Verizon uses for their VZNavigator service.
Like “Truth failed you children” said, it probably works with Google maps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E911
“Mobile phone users may also have a selection to permit the location information gathered to be sent to other phone numbers or data networks, so that it can help people who are simply lost or want other location-based services. By default, this selection is usually turned off, to protect privacy.”
“It’s just a freakin’ phone people. It makes calls. It receives calls.what the hell else does it need?”
A widescreen touch display iPod and a breakthrough Internet communicator.
With GPS, iPhone could partner with a car maker to have dedicated integration as a Magellan type device, with a car-mode and stereo replacing everything stealable from a dashboard. A destination address could be uploaded before hand or even texted in by a friend whose house your going to. it could even manage an fm tuner imbedded benieth the dash, and all from factory installed steering wheel buttons. Maybe even simultaneously sending a video to an lcd screen in the back for the kids! Are you listening steve?
It’s just a freakin’ phone people.
It makes calls.
It receives calls.
what the hell else does it need?
————————
For $500-$600, it needs to do a hell of a lot more than make calls. GPS would is a very nice feature.
Addon to above: Integration with googles new Streetview with GPS navigation
You probably enter your default location somewhere in settings. Most people use their phones in a limited geographic location. If you’re out of town, you can probably just change the default location while you’re out of town.
http://www.MittensRomney.com/
The Truth failed you children
The truth is there for those who want to see it.
I have a feature like this on my V600i here in the UK. It locates where you roughly are and provides you with local POI’s.
LoopRumors? I think Enderle, Thurott, and Dvorak have more credibility than that site. Sheesh! Have they gotten any rumor right?
If you guys listen carefully, I’ve talked a lot about how great the Google is on the iPhone. I’ve said many times that it has the most advanced version of Google maps ever made, so expect some very interesting things.
Yes the iPhone will know where you are, but it’s not GPS. At Apple, we try to use technologies that fits the job better, and in this case Apple and Google have been able to come up with something people will love.
By June 29, you will get the chance to see and feel what we have for you.
The GPS is embedded in your neck when you buy the iPhone so Steve ALWAYS knows where you are.
I have Google Maps on my Series 60 Nokia and I can do a business search, get directions to the business (as others have said, it works just like Google Maps on your Mac), even call the listed phone number from within Maps with just a click. No GPS, no tower triangulation (AT&T’s old mMode service had this… it was pretty slick), just Google Maps and an internet connection. Not to say the iPhone won’t have GPS but I think someone is reading way to much into this.
The AT&T wireless network supports as with most GSM service providers can roughly estimate where a user is calling from. That means the network can check out what cell tower you are currently registered with and of course, which towers you were roaming through in the past.
As you can imagine, getting your location information via GSM is definitely not as accurate as with GPS.
However, using GSM location-based services is not a bad approach for the iPhone: it will not add cost, size, weight or battery drain as would full blown GPS.
i started believing in the GPS rumor, until i thought about one major problem:
google maps works by pulling geographical data from a server over the internet.
all GPS receivers use built in maps.
if the GPS in the iPhone was to be used for directions, it would require built in maps, making google maps so much less useful.
Martin, you’re an idiot.
As someone said, GPS or something equivalent (e.g., triangulation from towers) is requirement for newer cell phones. Why SJ won’t discuss about it? If he did everyone will guess iPhone will have navigation capability (and I assume MS and others are working on similar capability for other smartPhones. At least one wireless company, http://getitnow.vzwshop.com/index.aspx?id=fnd_toolsApps_gps, offers navigation service already). I remember reading an article about Google working on GPS interface for their map software. I am sure they are still working on it and it will be part of iPhone.
@ Martin
Well why? I mean sure, that’s how GPS units work now, but once you have your coordinates, you could just feed them into Google maps. I can do that right now manually, why couldn’t you write an app to do it?
There is no reason they couldn’t make it work.
Last link did not work. http://www.vznavigator.com/
BTW, this capability is not new. When I used a cell phone in Japan at least 4 years ago, it was able to tell me where I was with a map.
I can’t understand all the hype for the iPhone.
It isn’t even white. What kind of Apple product is that?
I cannot believe that after so many years of GPRS in the US, practicaly nobody, not even the press people, has heard of the ‘Location-Based Services’ (LBS) using GSM signal strength and phase to determine location of the phone.
As someone said here, this is a mandatory feature for ALL phones in the US. They MUST be able to provide its approximate location (to about 30 metres – 100ft).
Apple used this feature to provide home location for Google maps. They worked with Google to build a site that would, instead of having user type starting location, automatically retrieve this location from Safari. This is very simple and effective. No GPS needed.
“all GPS receivers use built in maps.”
Uh, my GPS receiver does not have a built-in map…
Actually, this is one of my grouses about no third-party software development. My GPS receiver connects to my Mac via USB. There are also bluetooth GPS receivers. Give me a week or so and I’d have the connectivity working. Wait for Apple to get around to it? We’ll see it sometime in a couple of years.
I love the idea of turning my iPhone into a bike-computer/phone/internet communicator/wide-screen iPod.
If the iPhone had GPS, it would have to be in the FCC filing, which is public. Therefore, if the iPhone had GPS, the public would know about it by now. Goddammit, you gullible chumps.
Big Al: “It isn’t even white. What kind of Apple product is that?”
…looks at PowerMac.. hm… not white.. looks at Apple Cinamon (bun) Display.. hmm… not white.. previous G4 Tower and Cinamon Display.. weren’t white.. mom’s G4 Laptop.. hm… not white.. one before it was black.. my own MacBook Pro.. not white.. iSight camera? Nope.. not white..
Looks frantically around for something white..
Oh yeah.. the keyboard I’m typing on!
Phew!
hmm – you’re near a cellphone tower… that cellphone tower is near stores… so this requires GPS because?
@ ChrissyOne
what happens if u don’t have an internet connection ?
like i said, all the data displayed by google maps (including apples version of it) comes from google’s servers.
that just would not work reliably enough.
@ joe, yes maybe i’m an idiot, but why exactly ?
@ Peter
OK, it connects to your map, that has built in maps.
the bluetooth unit also requires some kind of map, doesn’t it ?
there are only two ways u can have the maps on the iPhone, download them, or store them.
downloading them just would not work, even if u have a data plan that allows free use of the internet (very very unlikely outside of the USA), u would still be subject to lost connections etc.
i’m not saying that the GPS would not be useful, even if u just have google maps, but just don’t count on it to give u directions while driving a car.
“‘Calamari’ shows a button at the bottom of the screen that reads ‘Directions To Here’ which would mean that the iPhone has GPS [Global Positioning System] capabilities,”
GPS is not required. In any other phone that runs Google Maps, you can set the start and end of the route and get directions between the points, without GPS.
But Google Maps is far from the state of the art as a navigation application. I suspect that the iPhone mapping feature is going to be underwhelming to anyone who’s used a real GPS based navigation device or phone with GPS.
“ITS CONNECTED VIA WIFI PEOPLE!!!”
Its not connected by anything. The screen shots are simulated.
@ Decrypt3
GPS receivers don’t require FCC approval, unless they contain some kind of transmitter (FM, Bluetooth etc)
+ some documents, including schematics, are to remain confidential until the day after the iPhone’s release
but, here is something else, why does google maps have two buttons, one labeled “directions to here” the other “directions from here” ?
i think those two buttons are used to set the destination and starting point of a trip.
(4 frames after the 24’th second of the “calamari” commercial)
check out this frame of the commercial:
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=75703&d=1180994528
i meant
@ Peter
OK, it connects to your MAC, that has built in maps.
“but, here is something else, why does google maps have two buttons, one labeled “directions to here” the other “directions from here” ?”
Never used Google Maps on another phone? You can tell it your start and end points and get directions.
Google Maps is probably available for the phone you own already. The easiest way to understand what features it has would be to browse to Google with your phone, download it and give it a go.
From Google: Google Maps works with the following devices:
Most Java-enabled (J2ME) mobile phones.
Palm devices with Palm OS 5 and above.
All color BlackBerry devices.
Windows Mobile devices with Windows Mobile 2003, 5.0 and above.
And of course coming soon, the iPhone.
my point is that u can hardly see one button as a serious indication of the presence of a GPS, and discard the presence of another button that shows that it’s not necessarily true.
and, just explain how the iPhone could be used to give directions reliably (and for free) if u need an internet connection ?
in belgium that would cost over 5 dollars per hour.
i have a windows mobile phone, with a GPS, and google maps.
i still have to use the built in maps, the GPS is just a nice addition to google maps.
“and, just explain how the iPhone could be used to give directions reliably (and for free) if u need an internet connection ?”
Google Maps requires an Internet connection to work. The answer is, no connection, no maps.
In the USA there are many fixed price, all you can use data plans for cellphones.
GSM Telephone can locate itself very accurately without GPS.
Google maps+GSM and you do not neccessarily need GPS. GPS is sucks because it consumes so much energy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/blog/story.cfm?c_id=1501198&objectid=10443710
Arrrrh Hey guys he is from My country ,
Need to make sure he get all facts right
Go Mac Daily news Lets:
Ta
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PS: I have a job now in IT. cool huh
“GSM Telephone can locate itself very accurately without GPS.”
For best position it not just phone, it phone and cell towers calculate position. It 50-200 meters accurate. So only good for E-911 service not dynamic mapping. Maybe OK for find self on Google map. Not good for replace GPS .
If you look at the ad in slow motion, just after the hand presses the phone number you can see another button – “Directions from here” – below the “Directions to here” button. If iPhone has GPS, or for that matter any oher location tracking system, why would it need you to tell it if you are going to there or away from there… it would already know!!!
I believe in the Squid ad, the voice guy is the one that says which one is closest to him, not the phone!
If the Calamari ad is accurate, there most be some way for the search to find the “closest” seafood restaraunt, right? There is only two ways to determine the “closest” anything to where you are at the moment you search for seafood. 1. You type the address or cross streets into the iPhone before searching. 2. A GPS unit identifies your location and feeds it to the search. In the commercial I did not see any indication of typing in the present location of the iPhone operator. That leaves the only other option which is that it is using a GPS function built into the iPhone. Case closed…..unless the ad is all smoke and mirrors or course.
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Martin: re: your post
check out this frame of the commercial:
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=75703&d=1180994528
“directions to here” and “directions from here” are standard selections in Google Maps. After selecting one or the other, you are prompted for the next location to be from or to!
Not GPS. You must know where TF you are at the moment
What the Apple iPhone commercials tell us
Check this story at
http://iprodreviews.blogspot.com/2007/06/what-apple-iphone-commercials-tell-us.html
or visit
http://iprodreviews.blogspot.com
“unless the ad is all smoke and mirrors or course. “
You no understand that demo screen content done ahead of time actor just move finger to movie playback dumb american capitalist running pig dog.
Look guys, let me put this layman’s terms… bottom line here is that the phone does not need GPS for the cell network to have an “idea” where the phone is. Cell networks are built to be able to triangulate a phones location by knowing which signals the phone recieves most strongly and also the time in which it takes the signal to reach from the each of those towers to the phone. Even before eGPS, this is how you could make a phone call to 911 and they could instantly dispatch or make aware the police or emergency services in your area that they need to get ready to respond and then wait for more specific information on your location. It’s also the same way they can find people who get lost in the woods with their cell phones (as long as there is a signal). So… since Google and ATT are collaborating on this project, do you think it would be so far-fetched to think that part of the information ATT provides to Google Maps (for iPhone) is an approximate location so it can decide which of your desired Starbucks are closest to your “approximate” current location? So rather than argue about it being a phone or not, why not try and understand the full spectrum of technology you’re using these days and quit being angry over the little things.
martin is a very very very idiot guy. Shut up you Martin!
does anyone here actually have an iphone or are you people just going off of commercials??
i used my iphone to navigate from Tulsa, OK to Billings, Montana, thee only downside is that the few times i lost cell service the map would not refresh, NO it is not a turn by turn navigation but judging from how it acted it uses some sort of tower triangulation for location u dont have to tell it where u are but it was not as accurate as to location as the verizon navigation which is a turn by turn and acted more like it had an actual gps but i dont know the phone model