Tuesday, September 8. 2009

Loopt Gets Background iPhone Processing (for a user fee to AT&T)

One of the big issues with the iPhone and GPS is that it can't run in the background. That means that you must turn on the app itself to "check in" to share location information. But now, Loopt has swung a deal (for a $3.99 fee per month) to have AT&T do background updates. I'm not sure how that meshes with Apple's restrictions, but it does give Loopt an advantage over "everyone else" including Google's Latitude.

There's a free trial for the first 5000 folks, but I suspect that's full already since the news broke Sept 4.

- Silicon Valley Insider via Mobile Burn

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Apple at 08:03 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Scrabble + GPS + iPhone = Seek 'n Spell

Ok, I've been reading about iPhone apps, specifically location-based ones. for quite a while. None have made me think, "wow, I want that"...until today. Seek 'n Spell is a letter hunting game played in a park - the game downloads a satellite image for you to use as a map and you capture virtual VW Beetle sized letters by running to them, to spell words for points. This sounds fun - but then I used to play Scrabble competitively and am a runner...

- GPS Business News

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation, Apple at 07:51 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Friday, August 28. 2009

Apple Patent App: "location-area applications"

The idea: the GPS in your phone will detect your location and "update" your apps to that location. The patent is titled Transitional Data Sets, application 20090215497.

The application was filed in February 2008 but just recently made public.

- Jaunted
- Apple Insider

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Apple at 08:56 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Wednesday, August 26. 2009

iPhone May Support LBS But Apple Needs Some Geography Marketing Insight

I love my Mac and my two iPods. I'm even ok with the e-mails about new products - like the new OS coming out on Friday.

Today I also got an e-mail about a new Apple Store opening at Liberty Place. I figured it must be around Boston because Apple knows I live around Boston. But I'd not heard of Liberty Place. It sounds fancy - like Copley Place in Boston. Maybe there's a new "Place" in Boston and I'm just not paying attention? Or, maybe there's an error and it's not in Boston? The announcement includes no address (street, city, state) so I had to click through on either the "Apple Story, Liberty Place" link or the "Get Directions" link. I learned the store is in Dedham, MA about 20 miles south of Boston. Oh, ok.

It gets funnier. The "Get Directions" link uses Google Maps, but not so well!

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Apple at 06:46 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, August 25. 2009

Quote of the Week

"The GPS bases are loaded on the iPhone — it now remains to be seen if developers can knock it out of the park."

- But as Patrick Connolly, research director of IMS Research, in a TWICE (This Week in Consumer Electronics) article about GPS apps for the iPhone

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS, Apple at 07:52 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, August 24. 2009

Yelp Mobile: Bing Maps on Blackberry, GMaps on iPhone

TechCrunch notes the launch of the Yelp Blackberry app (Yelp is a restaurant review service) and the difference in map platform. So, why go Bing when Google was used for the previous app on the other platform?

Per the article: "Yelp says that Bing was used because the search engine provided map tile access, which was essential for movable maps on the app."

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Microsoft, LBS, Apple at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |