INRIX and NAVIGON AG announced that NAVIGON will use INRIX’s real-time traffic information exclusively to power its PND products in Europe as well as its highly successful iPhone navigation App in Europe and North America. NAVIGON just recently introduced the first pan-European real-time traffic products with the launch of the NAVIGON 8450 Live and 6350 Live. Both at home and abroad, users of the new premium devices can access real-time information such as live traffic via the external NAVIGON Live Module in 32 countries across Europe, without incurring charges extra to the subscription fee.
Other real-time information for these two products include positioning of mobile radar speed detectors, information about available parking spaces, the weather forecast at any location as well as en route, and the option to search for an unlimited number of personal points of interest selected by the user, such as restaurants or businesses via Google Local Search.

INRIX powers Traffic Live by combining real-time, crowd sourced traffic information from more than 1.3 million vehicles with insight from hundreds of public and private sources to reliably deliver the most accurate view of current traffic conditions.  Covering major roadways in 15 countries across Europe and North America, INRIX also provides to Traffic Live users up-to-the-minute traffic road condition updates — including construction, accidents and other incidents.

Traffic Live blends seamlessly into NAVIGON navigation devices with easy to read displays and simple to use menus. The software automatically includes traffic information when calculating a route, and drivers receive immediate on-screen alerts to new incidents and congestion as they occur as well as the option to route around congestion. Traffic Live is also available for NAVIGON’s iPhone navigation App, MobileNavigator, in Europe and North America. The feature is integrated as an in-app purchase.

NAVIGON’s MobileNavigator iPhone App is among the top ten grossing iPhone apps in several countries. It transforms the iPhone into a full-fledged navigation device that works very similar to a personal navigation device (PND). It does this by having the map material on-board of the iPhone instead of downloading them through a cell phone connection which can involve extra costs and interrupts the navigation whenever there is no cell phone signal available. NAVIGON MobileNavigator offers unique features such as Reality View™ Pro which displays 3D views of complex highway interchanges and exits helping drivers anticipate their next move. Further features include text-to-speech, navigation to contacts saved in the phone’s address book, Lane Assistant Pro, one-tab access to the iPod control and more.

The bigger location-based services stories, as we leave the summer behind, are coming from Europe with several important announcements springing out of Nokia World 09 in Stuttgart, Germany, and from the large consumer IFA Conference in Berlin. At Nokia World 09, the company announced its Lifecasting LBS with Ovi, which is a partnership with Facebook.

“Although a bit late to the party, Nokia is now fully embracing social media. This point was driven home by having a Facebook exec deliver one of the keynotes, and announcing a new service called Lifecasting, which links location into your Facebook experience,” said Clay Babcock, Primordial vice president, who attended the conference. “It is written using Nokia’s web-centric technologies. Nokia has coined the term SoLo, Social Location, to describe the experience, and is building teams to flesh out the vision of your Nokia device being on constant, location-aware contact with your friends. GPS is clearly key to this new product. All of the devices announced include internal GPS with A-GPS support for fast TTFF (time to first fix).”

Read the complete article in GPS World.

NAVIGON exclusively markets navigation solutions Europe-wide with T-Mobile. In addition to this, T-Mobile offers an innovative and flexible business and price model which is tailored to NAVIGON’s end customer offer.

Live Services on the Navi
NAVIGON device users with cell phone components can access up-to-date information services by NAVIGON, Live Services, across the T-Mobile and roaming partners GPRS networks Europe-wide in 32 countries1. In particular reliable traffic situation reports (Traffic Live) belong to this under consideration of FCD data (FCD, floating car data). These are continually evaluated position data of vehicles which are currently participating in traffic. Of course NAVIGON devices also use position data on request for automatic adjustment to routes when the duration of a trip is shortened by this. One advantage of Traffic Live: The traffic reports which are updated in intervals of a few minutes show traffic jams even earlier than the customary RDS TMC. Other Live Services include information services for destinations such as restaurants, tourist attractions and other points of interest, services identifying the location of speed traps and the location and remaining capacity of multi-storey car parks2, weather information and services showing the location of gas stations along a given route. More services will be added at a later time.

Live Services by NAVIGON will be available on the new devices NAVIGON 8450 Live and NAVIGON 6350 Live from the 4th quarter of 2009. Purchasers of these navigation systems can try out the services for three months free of charge and without obligation. Thereafter NAVIGON charges EUR 79.95 for a yearly subscription and EUR 139.95 for a subscription over a duration of two years. Customers, who conclude the contract for the access to services within 30 days after the activation of the Live Services, receive a 25% discount. All services and connections are contained in sub-scription prices. Additional costs are not incurred.

He will talk in the track ‘Mobile Phone versus the PND’

Other seminar tracks are;

• Services and mobile applications
• The future of the Connected Car
• Outdoor, pedestrian and the cyclist, new markets

For more information about the event go to op the Navigation Event Site.

While PNDs and in-dash navigation device sales continue to suffer from the economic recession, handset-based turn-by-turn navigation is boosted by the rapidly growing smartphone segment.

ABI Research expects the number of paying handset-based turn-by-turn navigation users to increase to 26 million by the end of 2010 with the Asia-Pacific region experiencing the strongest growth.

In the wake of a continuous stream of eye-catching touchscreen smartphone launches, navigation software developers are rushing to port their solutions to as many new platforms as possible, such as Android (ALK, Telenav) and the new Palm webOS (Telenav).

According to practice director Dominique Bonte, however, “The most significant driver for the uptake of handset navigation is expected to come from the iPhone, following Apple’s decision to finally enable turn-by-turn navigation on its latest 3.0 platform version.” Software from TomTom, Sygic, AT and T (Telenav), and Networks In Motion is already available from the iPhone App Store, with Navigon’s solution expected soon.

While application stores are expected to become an important channel for the distribution of navigation software, many carriers and handset manufacturers prefer to pre-install or bundle navigation software with their phones and offer plans based on strategic partnerships with navigation developers.

Examples include Verizon/NIM, AT and T/Telenav, Vodafone/Telmap LG/Appello, HTC/ALK Technologies, and Samsung/Route 66. Market leaders Nokia and Vodafone have respectively opted to acquire navigation providers Gate5 and Wayfinder, allowing tighter integration of navigation and LBS services into their portfolios. Both approaches often coexist.

However, several barriers still remain in place. “High monthly subscription fees and data roaming costs will need to be addressed for off-board navigation on handsets to reach high penetration levels,” Bonte believes. Free ad-funded navigation is one possible way forward with Locationet’s Amaze solution powering Technocom’s SpotOn GPS platform, Huawei’s new GPS phones, and Bouygues’ free navigation offer in France.

Dominique Bonte is keynote speaker at the European Navigation Event, october 6th 2009

Before the end of this month iPhone users will be able to kit out their smartphones with the professional navigation software from App Stores across the globe. “With the new OS 3.0 operating system, Apple has made the use of navigation software on the iPhone possible, and NAVIGON has quickly managed to adapt the MobileNavigator software to the new firmware. The iPhone can now be transformed into a versatile, fully functional navigator”, quotes Egon Minar, CEO of NAVIGON AG.

Alternative in the App Store
When equipped with the MobileNavigator software, the iPhone 3G (with Apple OS 3.0 operating system) and the iPhone 3G S guide their users safely to their destination – with updated map material and intelligent navigation.

The package includes well-known functions such as Reality View Pro, Real Roadsign Pro, Lane Assistant Pro, Speed Assistant, Day & Night Mode, amongst others, as well as the option of displaying POIs along the route. With this range of functions, Mobile Navigator stands out from its competition on the market – also by the fact that the typical user functions of the iPhone have been implemented seamlessly in order to make navigation using the iPhone and NAVIGON software even more enjoyable. If you turn the iPhone 90 degrees, then the display switches automatically from portrait to landscape view. As well as this automatic display adjustment, and the intelligent address entry, there is also the option of navigating directly to an address from saved contacts. If navigation is interrupted by a telephone call then navigation is resumed automatically after the call has ended.

“This allows iPhone users to navigate wherever they are, whenever they want – conveniently and while on the move,” states Egon Minar. Within this month MobileNavigator will be available in the international AppStore where iPhone users can choose between various options. One option is the LITE Version available
for free, with no active route guidance, but with map material and the possibility to display POIs (points of interest) in the vicinity. Another option is the full version, which navigates users quickly and reliably to their destination.

The prices for the full version will be released by the AppStore at the launch.

First the good news
Beginning in the second half of 2009, a large number of GPS-enabled T-Mobile (Germany) devices will be offered with NAVIGON’s navigation software MobileNavigator 7, announced the German navigation provider in a press release today.

It is a major announcement for NAVIGON which had so far a limited success in selling its software to handset manufacturer. T-Mobile is the leading German wireless operator with more than 39 million customers. MobileNavigator’s licenses will be sold in the T-Mobile shops, online and from the phones themselves.

Which Operating systems will be supported is unclear yet.

Now the bad news
Navigon has nog been able to get a viable business with PND in the USA, and has therefor decided to stop the PND sales in the USA. That doesn’t mean that the sales for mobile phones will grow. A contract with T-Mobile in USA might be an interesting chance.