And oh-so-pretty to watch from the couch!
With Google announcing yesterday (28/10/2009) its Maps Navigation app for Android 2.0, all the major players in the GPS Navigation market felt the shockwave. Garmin’s shares dropped 16%, while TomTom went down by 21% (Garmin & TomTom @ Google Finance).
Google not only entered (probably) the most lucrative (and expensive) market of mobile apps delivering a free (!) app, but also managed to cook it in a feature-rich way. It takes advantage of running in an internet-enabled device (versus most GPS dedicated devices), backed up by the Google Search Engine big-brother-monster and adds more skilled and totally useful features like Search by Voice, Street View and Traffic View.
As an iPhone owner — not willing to get the all-new Motorola Droid — and for the sake of an healthy competition in this mobile GPS market, I hope Google and Apple settle their differences fast so that Google Maps Navigation app gets released in other phone flavors — at least Google said they’re “eagerly working” with Apple on it.
Let’s wait and see how this game evolves.
One Comment
The app sure looks great, and those Search by Boice, Street View and Traffic View additions make it a big player in the market, this time Tom Tom is really screwed!
I just hope that by giving the application for free they don’t flood it with ads.