Turn by Turn Apps Coming to iPhone 3.0 App Store
As we reported earlier today (before the Apple event, even), the iPhone 3.0 update will allow real, turn-by-turn directions on the iPhone. It looks like Apple isn’t bothering with enmeshing themselves in the confusing licensing issues surrounding turn-by-turn and is instead simply lifting the SDK Ban on turn-by-turn directions. The first app may very well come from Sygic (that’s what they’re claiming, anyway), which we had the chance get some eyes-on time with during Mobile World Congress.
Apple is simply allowing 3rd party apps to extend their access to CoreLocation (the iPhone’s built-in location service that includes GPS, cell tower-based, and WiFi-based location) to include turn-by-turn. Of note: Apple says that developers need to “BYOM” (Bring Your Own Maps). What that implies is that the licensing issues referenced above prevents Apple from allowing developers to use another new iPhone 3.0 feature: embeddable maps. iPhone 3.0 allows (almost) any app to include embedded Google maps, complete with pinch, zoom, and the like, within the app itself. Using that embedded map for turn by turn directions, however, is verboten. Instead developers will either have to require a large download of maps and/or provide them over-the-air as TeleNav does.
It’s also possible that developers will be able to use the new in-app purchasing feature of iPhone 3.0 to allows users to purchase maps as well. It’s unclear who else besides Sygic is getting a turn-by-turn directions app ready, but you can probably rest assured we’ll see such apps from the big players in short order once 3.0 is released this summer.
March 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I’m in GPS Geek Heaven…:D
March 17th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
And thanks to new “subscription-based pricing,” we can look forward to being charged out the wazoo for these apps! $10 a month? $25?
March 17th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
If it’s a good quality GPS app, I’d pay $10 a month, but that’s just me. I’m planning to move to downtown Chicago around Summer time, so a good, reliable TBT GPS app becomes even more valuable.
March 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Sygic has a one price only deal, 70 euros if i am not mistaken, not subscription
I also heard sygic will be out before 3.0
March 17th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
@Antonioj,
That’s awesome. G-Map is also a 1-time fee – so while it’s WAY cheaper than Tom Tom, the quality isn’t the same, of course. I’m not familiar with Sygic’s GPS systems. Is Sygic of the same caliber as the “big guns (Tom Tom, Garmin, etc.)?”
March 17th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Thank goddess Apple finally decided to step out of the way on this one. Next is jailbreak.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I’ll stick to xGPS for free, thank you.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I had Tomtom on my treo 650 and it was optional to subscribe. You basically got all the maps of the US and if you needed to get downloads of newest maps or features like live traffic update then you subscribed with Tomtom. I opted not to subscribe and was very happy with it thought I did pay $300 for it. It came with an external Bluetooth gps thing. I believe the name was navigator 5.
Heck maybe that model could work on the iPhone now that Bluetooth enabled devices will be allowed to communicate with 3.0
March 17th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
…though I realize iPhone has built in gps but maybe Tomtom’s external gps device is better. If it’s better I rather have the choice to choose which I want to use for a particular situation like driving directions.
March 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I’m still hoping for Garmin. I like their UI more than TomTom. And I know they have to decide whether they want a larger potential customer base, or want to risk cannibalizing their nuviPhone market, but I’d bet on the former. You don’t see them holding out on other platforms for fear that they might not sell as many all-in-ones, do you? No, they know the iPhone will make them a butload of money. I really hope they don’t go the BlackBerry route and make the maps download-on-demand TeleNav-style. I can totally deal with giving up 1GB of space on my 16GB (cross fingers 32GB this summer?) to have the entire US on my iPhone. And I’d gladly pay $75 or $100 or whatever it costs for the same software on WinMo or WinXP.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 am
So, the question is, what happens when you get a phone call? I’m thinking GPS won’t run in the background, so if you are driving and a phone call comes in, you’ll have to reload the GPS app?
May 27th, 2009 at 11:38 am
These turn by turn applications should be free if the iphone is trying to compete with the other cellular devices that offer it right out of the box!!!!
June 18th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I must say that I used to have an Samsung Instinct and the GPS was very good on that. I now have an iphone, and that is one of the things that has bothered me the most is the lack of turn by turn GPS. Having said that I would not trade the two phones.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
AT&T’s Telenav just added their app with Turn-by-turn to the app store!!!! Just a $9.99 subscription fee to your att wireless bill. Same as the app has for their other phone subscribers.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
… you can download the AT&T telenav app NOW for your iPhone with turn-by-turn!!! Just did it and it works wonderful and has voice. $9.95 monthly subscription billed on your att wireless bill- the same as it is for all the other phones that already had this available previously with att.