GPS To Boost Cell Phone Sales
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TechWeb - A market research company's survey found 24% want GPS on their next cell phone, while 19% want Internet access.
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With PDA sales slumping, company is planning new devices.
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Sightseers in major cities no longer need a tour guide or travel book to point out local landmarks. Several startup companies now offer tours delivered by cell phones. By Rachel Metz.
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MontaVista proposes a modification that could help boost the operating system for cell phones and GPS receivers.
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Despite a practically saturated Western European market, cell phone sales are still booming worldwide, driven by longtime owners clamoring to update their phones and new buyers wanting to get on the phone-owning ladder, according to a new report.
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(InfoWorld) - Making a splash as honing gadgets in spy movies, GPS (Global Positioning System) devices are now practical and make for pretty cool gifts. Axion's Geo-320 GPS navigation system -- when plopped on a car's dashboard -- barks out directions to drivers, while TeleNav's GPS Navigator service for smartphones voices directions to pedestrians. Despite the rise of GPS, atlases will remain, and it's good to have Brookstone's affordable Map Light to view paper maps at night. An Ã¼ber cool gift could be Hammacher Schlemmer and Co.'s LP-to-MP3 Converter, which converts songs from LPs to digitized MP3 files. But, first find people who own LPs. GPS for drivers For people who love to take wrong turns, a GPS system is a no-brainer as a gift idea. Axion has added the compact Geo-632 GPS system to its nifty array of in-car entertainment devices. The GPS system is real eye candy, and offers 2D and 3D viewing of preloaded maps on its 3.5-inch touch screen, voicing out directions. Like most GPS devices, it also has a listing of restaurants, hotels, gas stations, banks, and other tourist destinations. A lithium-ion battery operates the GPS unit for eight to 10 hours. It also has a Secure Digital flash memory card slot to load map updates. Map updates will be provided free at their Web site , said Jesse Lee, product engineer at Axion. As an add-on, the portable GPS unit can play MP3 files and view JPEG image files, allowing users to share music and images, said Joanna Zhang, an Axion spokeswoman. The $349.99 unit became available in the U.S. in November. GPS for pedestrians GPS systems can also be used by lost pedestrians. TeleNav's GPS Navigator software loads on to a smartphone and gives a 3D view of maps, with voice and on-screen directions. It provides directions to more than 10 million business listings in the U.S., including Wi-Fi hotspots and tourist destinations. The system can also be used in cars, and as an added bonus, its "fuel finder" locates spots with the lowest gas prices. However, maps on a smartphone's LCD (liquid crystal display) screen may be too tiny for a driver's comfort. The service works on smartphones with most U.S. mobile service providers . Alltel recently launched the TeleNav GPS wireless service in the U.S. for $9.99 a month, and it works on Research In Motion's BlackBerry 8703e and Samsung Electronics' u520 smartphones. For $2.99, a one-time use service is vailable, which works only on Samsung u520 phones. The beat goes on After an LP to CD recorder, Hammacher Schlemmer has introduced the LP to MP3 Converter right in time for the holiday season. The turntable plugs to a computer via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, where it digitizes LP audio files. It helps save out-of-print music and spoken-word recordings on LPs to a more reliable digital format, according to the company. The software included removes scratches, hisses, and pops usually heard from LPs. The $169.95 systems also works as a stand-alone LP player, connecting to a stereo system via an RCA output. Change your wireless TV headset Sharper Image Inc. is offering Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Headphones , which allows users to wirelessly listen to a TV, iPod, stereo -- anything with a headphone jack -- from up to 30 feet away. It comes with two pieces -- a wireless headset and a receiver. The Bluetooth receiver plugs into the headphone jack and the headset connects to the receiver, getting the sound wirelessly. This $99.95 Bluetooth headset could be an excellent alternative to traditional RF wireless headsets, known to be unreliable in coverage and performance.
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The maker of mobile phones said a push into emerging markets drove handset sales to a record.
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Internet phone service, a burgeoning technology that allows people to make cheap calls to almost anywhere over broadband connections, is getting a boost from retailers.
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All handset vendors combined shipped  285 million cell phones in the July-September quarter, with  strong demand in Asia and Africa lifting sales 12 percent from  a year ago, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Thursday.
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'Gpay' would support payments from vending machines and retailers by text message or SMS.
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(InfoWorld) - Nokia will give away mapping software to its customers as well as users of Window Mobile devices. Phones based on Linux and older Nokia and MicrosoftÂ devices will be supported in the future, the Finnish mobile phone maker said Thursday. Mobile users can download the Smart2go maps that cover 150 countries and include 15 million points of interest, such as restaurants and accommodation. Users can store the map data on a memory card in the handset. The data can be downloaded over the air or via a connection to a PC. Users of phones with GPS (global positioning service) or with an external GPS module can subscribe to a turn-by-turn navigation service. Subscriptions come in a variety of packages so customers can pay for a week's worth of navigation services for use while on holiday. Prices vary based on the user's location but as an example, a one-week subscription for navigation services in Germany costs â¬6.49 ($8.43), one month is â¬7.99 and one year is â¬59.99. Nokia is trying to compete with the personal navigation device market but hopes to gain an edge in offering a different pricing model. While standalone navigation device makers typically charge users for the hardware and the maps up front, Nokia is giving the maps away and charging for the navigation services as users need it. In January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,Â Nokia announcedÂ that it would start giving away maps to Nokia customers and offering a paid navigation service. Thursday's announcement includes compatibility with non-Nokia devices, details the pricing and sets the date -- Saturday -- when the free maps will become available. Nokia has begun focusing heavily on the location market. The Smart2go application comes from Gate5, the mapping and routing company thatÂ Nokia boughtÂ last year. In addition, Nokia last yearÂ acquired the exclusive rightsÂ to license and sublicense 700 GPS patents owned by Trimble Navigation. At the time, Nokia said that essentially every company offering a mobile navigation service would have to license the patents. Nokia introduced another free offering on Thursday, this one only for certain Nokia phones. Users of 16 Nokia devices, which include the N95, N93, N71, N62 and N60, can download a free application that lets them search for content on their handsets. Users can search for information in calendar entries, SMS messages and multimedia files. Â
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Someday soon, many cell phones might store as many as 2,000 songs -- or enough map data for a built-in GPS to steer you any place on the planet.
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Worldwide mobile phone sales rise 26% in the July to September quarter, driven by demand for new handsets.
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Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c58787)  has announced the addition of Portable Technology Retailing in the UK  2007 to their offering.
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BusinessWeek Online - Time was, if you wanted to use the global positioning system to get from one place to another, you had to spend $500 to $1,000 for a standalone dashboard-mounted unit from vendors such as Garmin (NasdaqGS:GRMN - News), TomTom, or Magellan. But lately, GPS is becoming a must-have feature on cell phones, with device makers including Research In Motion (NasdaqGS:RIMM - News) happy to oblige. RIM&#39;s BlackBerry 8800, for instance, includes a GPS chip that allows navigation from the palm of your hand.
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The biggest-selling electronic product in the world is mobile phones. Analysts estimate that consumers from Canada to China will snap up more than 600 million handsets this year -- five times the number of TVs or personal computers expected to sell.
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Strong demand for replacement handsets in western Europe and the US helped push global mobile phone sales to 156.4 million units in the second quarter of 2004, a 35 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2003, new research has claimed.