GPS on the phone is now something very common and just one of the things the smartphone boom has brought to us. As much as these mobiles threat the digital camera market, portable GPS navigation devices have now become one of the endangered species. Till recently software and hardware for GPS navigation systems was a separate business, but over the last few months the dynamics of this market has changed. Google made its big announcement by throwing in its free navigation software on the android, engadget pointed out the sharp fall TomTom and Garmin took.
The google app wasn’t truly a killer though it had its own charm and goodness. But the requirement of a continuous Internet connection (atleast in the current beta form) sinks it. Add to that only US support for now. We know that Google maps come together from as many as 6 teams coming together, and they would certainly do more better things in time to come, but what has undoubtedly acted as a catalyst to the entire situation is the entry of Ovi maps to the scene.
Nokia’s offering is free to begin with, works offline, in multiple countries, multiple languages, has voice directions and can work with as many as 300 million Symbian devices out there (once Nokia rolls out the promised updates…). Even in its current form Nokia has reported that the Ovi maps is seeing a download every second taking the total numbers to 3million in just around 20 days.
Apple might well follow suit with the iPhone 4th gen, rumors have already highlighted that Cupertino is fine tuning it’s own maps application to go with the iPhone and other handheld. It’s not for the first time that we are seeing an industry dissolve, and this is a part of the evolution in the digital era!
