Most of the cell phone-based personal navigation applications are going for $9.95 per month. I’ve been using Verizon’s VZNavigator and I like it because it’s fast and convenient to use a phone-based navi device but I do have a problem with the price. I’ll probably evaluate the new MapQuest solutions that they announced today for $4.99 per month but only certain phones (mostly Blackberry 8300 or 8800) and carriers are supported right now like AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. It’s about time for AT&T and T-Mobile which lag other carriers for LBS apps. A short video from MapQuest demos the MapQuest app if you don’t have one of these carriers.
by Joe Francica on 11/19 at 05:03 PM |
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In this week’s issue of Business Week, the magazine reports that;the number of navigation-ready cell phones will hit 162 million this year, or more than seven times the number of such devices sold for use in cars or other nonphone gadgets, says researcher iSuppli." We posted a recent information from Networks in Motion (NIM) that indicated that of the $118 million in sales of downloaded mobile applications, 58% were for LBS apps in Q2 or $68 million. The Business Week article notes that LBS apps accounted for $92 million in Q3 and my sources tell me that Q4 will blow those numbers away.
by Joe Francica on 11/19 at 01:47 PM |
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The press release is not very detailed but says the agreement is Infoterra France "to provide them with a unique image processing technology that will be employed in particular to process geographic images. This technology inherits from more than 15 years of Infoterra France experience in the domain, having led to world class products such as the Pixel Factory." Among other things the company "offers a wide range of products featuring a combination of true orthophotos and highly detailed 3D models that are setting new standard in the GIS industry." So, this could be another piece in "the building a 3D world" puzzle.
by Adena Schutzberg on 11/19 at 01:03 PM |
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Brian J.L. Berry, dean of the UT Dallas School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences received the Walter Isard Award for Scholarly Achievement from the North American Regional Science Council annually at its conference last week.
Who? You may well ask. “His work helped precipitate a ‘quantitative revolution’ in geography, led by new forms of spatial analysis and nascent geospatial information science. The resulting new paradigm helped structure the emerging field of urban studies.”
He spent time at two “hot beds” of geography: University of Chicago (1958-76) and the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis at Harvard University (1976-81). Later he was dean of the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie-Mellon University (1981-86).
- UT Dallas News
by Adena Schutzberg on 11/19 at 11:16 AM |
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The Street says:
The pros:
- forced TomTom to pay more
- relieved stockholders
The cons:
- still has to find a long term solution for mapping data; may have to build its own
- "But is it [it is] unclear how the Navteq contract gives Garmin the market leadership it sought in its bid for Tele Atlas." (Yair Reiner, an analyst with CIBC Capital Markets in a note to clients)
- where will Garmin get features it said it wanted in bidding on TA: "more realistic representation of surroundings, improved mobile search capabilities, including Internet-enabled local search, and extend itself into newer segments like in-dash, portable and mobile-phone navigation… real-time content such as traffic data."
Seeking Alpha says:
- very big win
- sealed long temr deal with NAVTEQ
- forced 45% premium payment by TomTom
- avoided debt
- stock up and good holiday ads
by Adena Schutzberg on 11/19 at 09:20 AM |
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