“With its built-in GPS chip, Apple’s iPhone 3G is poised to become a major player in mobile location services. The phone is already capable of tracking a user’s location, a feature that developers have marshaled to locate nearby stores and restaurants. In a few months, wireless location-based services provider TeleNav will debut new software for the iPhone that will likely include turn-by-turn directions, voice prompts and 3-D maps,” Elizabeth Woyke reports for Forbes.
“The firm is tight-lipped about the software’s exact features, but says the application will resemble the mapping features it developed for the Samsung Instinct, another touchscreen phone. Following its June release, the Instinct has won plaudits for its easy-to-use, voice-guided maps and comprehensive directories of local businesses,” Woyke reports.
“Apple being Apple, the iPhone app will have some additional flair, says Sal Dhanani, TeleNav’s senior director of marketing. ‘It will be cooler, have more pizazz,’ he promises,” Woyke reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Ouch, Samsung. Just ouch. Feeling a bit Multi-Touchless™ right about now, huh?
Woyke continues, “Will the thousands of iPhone developers worldwide be able to use the maps for their own apps? Possibly, according to Dhanani. ‘We have no reservations about opening the data up to third parties, but it probably won’t happen right out of the gate,’ he says.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dean. H” for the heads up.]
Good thing I didn’t drop 2 grand for the in dash nav in my new MINI!
So, what’s it going to cost?
Aaron,
Agreed.
IMO the only good uses of car-tied nav systems are:
1. Auto-911 & locate if one gets in a crash, and:
2. Stolen vehicle locate and disable.
Both of which should be standard equipment and free-use.
We can use the iPhone for everything else.
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@AaronF
Your iPod Mini has an in dash navigation system?
SWEET!!!!
@other steve: I was just wondering that myself! I have a feeling this won’t be one of those $10 apps….
I thought it was against the App Store policy to allow an app that uses the GPS for turn-by-turn directions?!?
As long as the maps are stored on the the iphone itself then ill consider using it, but I have no interested in relying on EDGE or on/off 3G to get the maps.
If this doesn’t happen, there will be no reason to dump my tomtom unit.
@HMCIV
Your iPod Mini has an in dash navigation system?
SWEET!!!!
No, you dork. The iPod mini has been discontinued (everyone knows that). He was referring to his Mac mini. Geeesh!
Silly mortal!
Definately don’t believe it will be in the $10 dollar range. With this being a function everyone has been dying for ,and depending on its reliability and cool factor, I’m sure they could get away with charging around $30-$40. I’d pay that to stop switching between “List”, “Map” and “Show Traffic” with that damn curtain peeling back while flying down 85 South doing 85 just to realize I missed my exit … 85 miles back. YOU KNOW the feeling when you see that “TheBlue Pill” , 20 minutes after you last looked , light years away from the “Righteous Purple Path” . Now that I think of it ,I’d pay $55.95 (maybe even $55.99) for a reliable voice guided GPS with Rerouting ………(I think Tom-Toms start at $149)
Wow, I have a MINI as my screensaver, but I’d never considered the nav as a reasonable option. I had considered getting a cheap Garmin but the iPhone 3G has been great. I don’t need some chick telling me where to turn, I just need that map showing the blue dot is on the purple line.
On board maps require less internet access, which avoids international roaming charges. Not so important inside a large country like the US, but any travel in Europe may quickly entail excessive roaming charges.
So yes, iPhone apps with stored maps definitely will fill a need.
@ El Guapo – No, you dork. The iPod mini has been discontinued (everyone knows that). He was referring to his Mac mini. Geeesh!
I thought he was talking about his BMW Mini Cooper car
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No roaming charges with a good old fashioned map. No batteries either.
Interesting to see the price drops in the market for Garmin’s Nuvi and Tom-Tom, etc. Guess those guys are running scared…
According to a link from
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1706224&tstart=0
which points to
http://www.navigadget.com/index.php/2008/07/12/telenav-does-gps-navigation-for-iphone-3g
we may be looking not at a purchase but ANOTHER MONTHLY CHARGE
Lets see if this gets banned for downloading map data around iTunes and competing with Google maps.