Amid rising competition between Google's Android mobile operating software and the iPhone, Google this morning is sending another shot Apple's way. It's debuting a free beta version of a new navigation service, a la TomTom's or Garmin's popular devices, that offers turn-by-turn, real-time navigation with Google Maps--but only on devices using its new Android 2.0 software.
In particular, that's likely to be Verizon's much-anticipated new Droid phone that was introduced this morning. Mobile expert Greg Sterling of Opus Research, who like me attended a pre-briefing yesterday at Google, notes that the service could give Verizon at least temporary bragging rights over the iPhone, advantages it has been touting in recent in-Steve-Jobs'-face ads on the Droid. "It's going to be a strong competitive differentiator in the short term," says Sterling, who's impressed by the navigation service.
In fact, the service offers bells and whistles beyond those of dedicated navigation devices, such as integration with Google's Street View, satellite imagery, and the ability to search destinations by name rather than address. For that reason, TomTom, Garmin, and the rest of the dedicated GPS navigation crew have even more reason to worry than Apple.
Google didn't rule out offering the service on the iPhone and said it's working with Apple but didn't provide a time frame or any promise that a similar service for the iPhone would be forthcoming. Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering for mobile and developer, said the software has "stringent" hardware requirements.
Anyway, here are the features of Maps Navigation, from Google's press information site (Google's blog post is also up now):
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.