commentary The likes of Nokia and Blackberry are rushing to add GPS to their mobile phone lines. Is this really what consumers want though?
When you're in the market for a new phone, which one of these additional features do you want the most?
As I cover both GPS and smartphones for CNET in the U.S. of A., I've had this question on my mind for quite some time now. So, it's been interesting to watch these two areas of technology converge. A number of smartphones -- such as the BlackBerry Pearl 8310, as well as Nokia's N95 and 6110 Navigator -- offer integrated GPS, and Nokia has already announced a bunch of GPS-enabled for later this year. So, people want this functionality in their phone ... or so I thought.
You see, earlier this month, I attended CTIA Wireless 2008 -- an annual trade show held yearly in Las Vegas -- and participated in a panel discussion where we discussed the "next big thing" in the wireless industry. One of the topics we covered was convergence, specifically mobile phone/GPS convergence, and we had several industry experts from Nokia, TeleAtlas, and Garmin on stage to share their thoughts. Now, with all three companies having invested quite some time and money into the melding of the two technologies, it wasn't surprising that they were all for it. However, we also conducted an audience poll where we asked the question: what do consumers most want converged into their mobile phones? They were given a set of multiple-choice answers -- TV, GPS navigation, media player, or full Web browser -- which they could vote via SMS for. When we got the results, I was simultaneously surprised and not surprised.
Full Web browsing won overwhelmingly with 80 percent of the vote, while only four percent of the audience wanted GPS in their phones. I was a little shocked at the low number but, as I've said before, I don't think a majority of consumers are ready for the GPS/mobile phone convergence yet -- not when they're still trying to wrap their heads around standalone portable navigation devices. This isn't to say this won't change in the future, and I certainly see the benefits of having GPS on your phone. Just the other day I used my BlackBerry Curve 8310 to find the location of a restaurant where I was to meet a friend, but will it take over the GPS industry? I say no way. I'm not just picking on GPS and cellular technology. I'm also weary, though a little less so, of integrating navigation into portable video players and, conversely, I think adding multimedia capabilities to portable navigators is a complete waste of time. (A view shared, by the way, by CNET.com.au's editors.)
So having said all that, back to the original question I had in mind: are you for GPS convergence? Or maybe the better question is: what will make the marriage of all these technologies a success and make you want to buy a converged device? I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on this, so please share your comments below and don't forget to take part in our CITA-style poll on the right.
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domino_m
24/04/2008 04:20 PM
Personally, i am a huge fan of GPS on mobile phones. Especially handy when on foot in an unknown town or city. I would love to look up a contact, have there address at the ready, and create a route that gets me there. What i don't like is having to connect to an online service to download maps on the fly. Well, actually i don't mind this as it does mean the maps are always (supposedly) up to date. It's the download costs of data packets and the overall speed of data transmission in rural areas that sh*ts me up the wall.
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AdmiralTriggerHappy
24/04/2008 04:37 PM
Um well I have all of the options listed (TV, GPS navigation, media player, or full Web browser ) on my phone (well TV is streaming) the HTC 3600i on 3 And I use the Web browser the most out of those features and the GPS next most So people probably want GPS still, they just want Browsing first and don't realise they could have it already
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MacNut
24/04/2008 05:29 PM
I have an iPhone and already have all those features but use the gps feature rarely
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andremu
24/04/2008 08:39 PM
All your poll will tell you is which of the 4 options is the first choice for people. For example, it may show that most people would like to browse the web - which is NOT the same as saying few people want GPS... A poll that ranked all four features may have been more useful.
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Daniel
24/04/2008 09:54 PM
I also have all features mentioned on my 904T, although the GPS doesn't work as it's a Japanese phone but if it did I probably wouldn't use it as if internet prices are anything to go buy, it would be worth my money as I can easily find my way around without it. Paper maps are easier to read too (bigger, brighter, higher-res screens should help that in the future...). What I'd rather see instead is better OS's on mobile's (aka eaiser to use and built for the user not around the user), better multimedia organising as we get more and more songs/videos on them and, something admittedly the mobile companies don't have total control over but, much, much cheaper internet access charges. I'm currently on Vodafone AU and the data charges are crazy, like $5 just to check your gmail for 2mins :'(. Telecoms need to stop their monopoly on the market and make it cheaper for us to use the features we pay so much for otherwise people aren't going to upgrade their phones and thus my parents are still using their nokia's from 2000 and sister using her's from 2001... :/
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moldor
25/04/2008 10:07 AM
One of the reasons I bought a Nokia N95 was the GPS functionality. I sent it back. GPS on the N95 (and others) is complete crap - time to first fix is incredibly slow, not the normal 10 - 30 seconds of my Navman, and the effect on battery life is horrendous.
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ian
25/04/2008 10:27 PM
I'd love to see a TV remote and a wireless mouse built into the mobile phone
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justin
26/04/2008 09:37 AM
For me, GPS is an absolute must. It's. absolutely fantastic when travelling because you can ditch all your troublesome maps and not worry about getting lost. Also great for remembering your parking spot :D I have a BlackBerry 8310 and the GPS is accurate and reliable.
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jajuveraa
27/04/2008 02:41 AM
@moldor Use the GPS with Garmin software then tell me if it's a crap.
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Del
28/04/2008 01:33 PM
I have a Nokia 6110 and use the GPS all the time in the city as I am a Sales Manager and travel quite a bit. Recommended!!
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Gavin
28/04/2008 04:22 PM
You say "The next big thing" was discussed? None of the things you talk about are the next big thing, they are NOW. 2 year telephony contracts are what slows down people from adopting new phones, why buy a new phone when you can get a cheap GPS that mounts in your car, has a large screen, and can be taken with you. Personally I use a vintage iPaq rx3715 with a bluetooth GPS device attached to my keychain, and a Nokia 3G phone that was free with my Telephony service.
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dan_rox77
09/06/2008 08:44 PM
I reckon that the answer is: Look at cameras in mbs. They CLEARLY haven't shut down the cam industry, but a lot of people expect their mb to have cameras in them. For me personally, I'd like something that puts all those things that are in the poll together so that I don't hafta lug around 3-4 devices when I could just carry one that doesn't do AS WELL as a separate devices, but the convenience & ease-of-use makes up for all the cons.
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