Epic Mobile News

Newsletter Subscription
Subscribe to our Dynamic News Content Feed Subscribe to our RSS Feed

Second iPhone Explodes in Brazil
An iPhone owner in Brazil found his phone smoking and emitting sparks, just days after reports of a phone catching fire on a plane in Australia.

Starbucks Mobile Payments in UK from January
The popular coffee conglomerate has decided to bring its mobile based payment service to British shores.

iPhone 4S Battery Problem New Antennagate
iPhone 4S users have taken to web forums in their thousands to complain about substandard battery performance, but Apple is remaining silent on the issue.

 

Expert expects Apple to get its own navigation software

Expert expects Apple to get its own navigation software Apple will soon launch its own navigation software, an expert has predicted.

Dominique Bonte, research director for telematics and navigation at ABI Research, pointed out that the iPhone has Google maps but this crucially doesn't have the option of "turn by turn instructions".

The G1 Google phone also lacks this facility.

Nokia smartphones do have built in navigational software although a fee is applicable for users to obtain full turn by turn operation.

Mr Bonte believes that are few handset owners currently willing to start paying for the privilege of having that activated.

He said: "There is increasing interest in using handsets for GPS navigation-based solutions, but we certainly should not overestimate it.

Drawing attention to the hype surrounding it, he added: "People are starting to become more aware that their phones allow GPS and you can do a lot more with your phone than call or send a text. I think it will still take a few years but it will really spread into the mass market then."

According to a recent ABI report, the recent launches of smartphones with GPS (Global Positioning System) are drawing heightened interest in handset-based navigation and Location-Based Services (LBS) even though the credit crunch is squeezing people's finances.

Mobile phone companies hope that Cell-ID and Wi-Fi will augment indoor coverage and provide service providers with the scope to roll out commercial LBS applications.

Mr Bonte commented: "Smartphones have certainly been driving updates in LBS applications, which are not so much navigation but more location-based search, friend finder, view tagging, where you can tag a location to a picture and then link it to a map on your computer, social networking sites and location based social networking sites."

The 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey revealed that there is certainly an appetite for mobile phone activities not related to phoning and texting. The study found that more than six out of ten people (62 per cent) own a mobile phone with internet access.

iPhone news posted on 27 November 2008

Have your say - Post a new Comment!

Heading:
Comment:
Anonymous: