So while the dust is by no means settling following Google’s bombshell announcement of their free Google Maps Navigation app for Android 2.0, it’s thinning enough that we can start to survey the landscape again.

In terms of the iPhone, Google is saying they’re working with Apple to add the same or similar navigation features to the iPhone’s built in Maps application that Android 2.0 now enjoys. TechCrunch thinks that, in light of the Google Voice situation, Google should make Apple beg for what they say is best car navigation software, with the richest feature set in the space (or at least the US space, since it’s not international yet). They see it as a replay of when Apple had to beg Microsoft to keep Office on the Mac, with the cloud being the modern “killer app” equivalent of productivity software then.

Apple is in a terrible position here because the future of mobile apps are Web apps, and Google excels at making those. Apple needs Google, it’s most dangerous competitor in the mobile Web market, to keep building apps for the iPhone. Google would be foolish not to since the iPhone still has the largest reach of any modern Web phone. But it will no longer be a priority.

However, Google delivering Google services to Android — Google’s own OS — makes sense. Android got native push Gmail before anyone else (something most handsets still don’t enjoy, GoogleSync being the alternative). Likewise, Google Street View was first shown off on the Android during it’s initial unveiling.

For arguments sake then, let’s say Google does indeed work with Apple to bring Google Maps Navigation to the iPhone Maps app and to all those search-happy, high-value iPhone users’ eyeballs — again, for free — where does that leave existing, premium priced, iPhone turn-by-turn software makers?

Navigon, one of the highest grossing apps in the iTunes App Store, told TiPb:

[Google's] app is not available for the iPhone yet and on Android it’s just launching, so we’ll have to see how professional the navigation experience really is and how well the map material supports navigation functionalities. We have over 18 years of experience in the navigation field which lets us develop unique and high quality features not found on other navigation software and we are using maps that were created specifically for this use case. We provide excellent features such as Text-to-speech, Reality View™ Pro and Traffic Live and are convinced that consumers will pay extra dollars for a better, and more premium navigation experience. Besides, their solution is off-board which means that the navigation is interrupted when there is no cell phone signal available while our iPhone app is on-board and therefore works like a traditional navigation device – you will continue to get directions even without cell phone signal. This is particularly relevant in Europe where you have to pay extra roaming fees when using an off-board solution and traveling from one country to another. In addition, we already have navigation solutions for Android as well as WindowsMobile and Symbian smart phones on the market in Europe and are currently evaluating the options for launching some of these in the US as well – including Android. Our iPhone app is currently the top 3 grossing app in the App Store.

TeleNav, which supplies the service behind the subscription-based iPhone’s AT&T Navigator app, had this to say:

It’s premature to assume that this will have any dramatic impact on the industry. We will see how many phones the service launches on, the content and usability, as well as consumer feedback before we make any assumptions or conclusions about any impact on the industry. We know that people value navigation and are willing to pay for a high-quality, differentiated service.

Certainly there are many industries where people are willing to pay a premium price for premium services. Will navigation software for mobile devices be one of them? Or is paid navigation software about to go the way of paid web browsers?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

What Google Navigation Means for iPhone Maps App, and for Turn-by-Turn Competitors

(AT&T Navigator for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

AT&T Navigator [Free with subscription - iTunes link] is the AT&T branded version of Telenav, GPS Turn-By-Turn software provided by AT&T. It is free to download, but requires a $10 monthly subscription paid through your AT&T bill. It also provides maps OTA (over-the-air), downloading any maps and data as needed through the AT&T network. This is both beneficial (takes up less space on the iPhone) and detrimental (can’t use if you have no signal).

In general, the app provided solid directions. For the local stuff, it generally gave the same directions that I have “learned” over time to use. For the long distance route, it gave me a path that someone else had recommended but was different from the Google Maps suggested route. When creating a route, you can either choose a destination to drive to (based on recent locations, address, find a business, airport, etc), or you can search for a POI. Searching for a POI on interest is a little cumbersome. First you choose the category, then the sub category (no problem so far). It then begins the search. The cumbersome issue is if you want to change the search parameters (change from “nearby” to a specific town). Before the search finishes, you need to tap the “where” option, and choose current location, recent places, address, etc. The cumbersome aspect is that the search begins even if you don’t want to search your current area. In addition, you can’t define the current area, so I am not sure if you are searching a 5 mile radius or a 30 mile radius (probably closer to the latter than the former). When searching for a nearby gas station once, I got “no results found” even though I knew there was one 30 miles away. I wanted to know if there was one closer (since I was almost on empty) and the search POI didn’t help at all.

Unfortunately, there is no contact integration for directions. You can cut and paste an address from your contact book, but it will require some additional work on your part. From what I hear, contact integration is going to be included shortly.

As for the routes, I generally had no problem with them. One really nice feature is that it reads the street name, so I don’t need to look at the app to determine what street is my turn. I had some small quibbles about the actual route choices in some cases (in one case, I got off the highway, drove about 20 miles in little back roads at 20 mph, including one dirt road with chickens on it…then got back on the 70mph highway I had just recently left). There are no options to include an interim stop, or to show a preference to avoid (or drive on) a specific road. You can choose the general (fastest, traffic optimized, shortest) for route type, but can also choose to prefer highways or streets. When creating a route, it checks the traffic. This is great for short trips, but I am not sure if it continually checks traffic (which would make more sense for longer trips).

After the route is created, there are great options for an “overview” of your trip. You can get a route summary (turn by turn) or a map summary (showing the whole route). This is great just to look over what you are doing, or if you want to see what the next three turns are going to be (if you like to look ahead, like I do).

One side note with a pet peeve. Why is it that when I get directions for a return route, I don’t simply get my directions in reverse? One would think that is I had the fastest route going one way then the reverse would be the fastest to get back!

The time estimates were generally spot on for short trips, but got more and more off base for longer trips. For my long excursion (630 miles) it had initially predicted 16 or 17 hours, when in reality it took about 11 hours. As I got closer, I found exiting the app and the restarting (and re-routing the directions) increased the accuracy (when I was about 60 miles away, it still said it would take three hours. I exited, started again, and then it said 1.2 hours). Speaking on exiting, because the app is OTA, if you exit you need to re-download the maps. There is no ability to “cache” or save directions once they have been created. In addition, when I exited and went back it, sometimes it would ask me if I wanted to resume the previous trip (still downloading new maps) and sometimes it would simply “forget” that I was in the middle of a trip. Not sure why.

The POI library was very strong (although it still didn’t find the Brownsville Zoo, even when I was 1 mile away!). It had a wide variety of “hits” when searching for any given POI, and this was a solid plus for the app. Even in an out of the area location like Terlingua, TX, it had a reasonable list of hotel accommodations (all three of them) and eating locations. My biggest issue with the POI is that you can’t define a search radius, but this seems to be common on most apps.

All in all this is a solid TBT GPS app. It provides accurate maps and a great library of POIs, and it picked up a GPS signal very quickly. The biggest issues I had were the occasional route choice and what to do if I didn’t have an AT&T signal. Lack of contact integration is a big minus IMO, but it makes up for that slightly by including traffic and reading the street names. If you don’t mind a monthly subscription, and live in an area where you don’t need to worry about an AT&T signal, this app would probably suit your needs perfectly. Four out of five stars.

Pros:

• Solid library of POI’s
• Street names read out loud
• Includes traffic updates
• Great trip overview options

Cons:

• Needs an AT&T signal
• Searching outside of local area can be cumbersome
• No contacts integration

TiPb Review Rating

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: AT&T Navigator for iPhone

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they’re fair game.

So who’s on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad’s Pick: BeejiveIM 3.0.

What makes this IM/Chat client so great is the multiple services you can add (AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN/Windows Live, MySpace IM, Yahoo! and Facebook) and the great customization features. You can customize the background wallpaper for each chat, change chat bubble colors and more. Apple’s Push Notification service works really well too, I can’t praise it highly enough in this instance. If you need a mutiple -account chat client, Beejive is the way to go! – [$9.99 - iTunes link]

Chris’ Pick: Zombieville USA

I have been spending some time this week playing an old favorite – Zombieville USA. I happened to open it up, saw my high score, and was on a quest to beat 714 zombies. Last night, around 12:32am, I finally got 726 zombies killed! [$1.99 - iTunes link]

James’ Pick: iTunes App Store

Since I have been traveling for the last few weeks, I have been in cities where I am not all that familiar with the surroundings. Enter the App Store. With the ability to find new apps that help me in my current city, I was able to find out of the way places to eat, the BART schedule and tracker in San Francisco and a new game or two to pass the time.

Jeremy’s Pick: Pocket Tunes Radio

Forget paying that $3 a month fee to Sirius XM and still listen to everything they have to offer including Howard Stern. Pocket Tunes does it all for a single fee of $9.99. Well worth it. (Note: you must have a Sirius XM subscription) [$9.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna’s Pick: AT&T Navigator

I’ve been using AT&T Navigator for a couple days now and am rather impressed. It calculates routes quickly and the ETA is very accurate as well. You can also search for places nearby or by name and of course create favorite places. I’ve always been hesitant to get a navigation system because I though Google maps with GPS was good enough… I was wrong! [Free + $9.99/month - iTunes link]

Matt’s Pick: iPhone 3GS Oleophobic Screen

Since getting the iPhone 3GS, I have sat down with it while eating, checking emails & Twitter, all the while sliming up the screen with my oily-chicken fingers. After eating I can simply wipe the screen onto my jeans & viola! the screen is clean. This is one of my favorite things about the new iPhone 3Gs!

Rene’s Pick: 1Password Pro

I’ve already picked 1Password, and explained the reasons why. Now I’m picking 1Password Pro for pretty much the same reasons I did last time but now with the added benefit of iPhone 3.0 enabled copy and paste goodness. Instead of using the in-app browser, you can still keep your passwords locked up safely and now just copy, switch to Mobile Safari, and paste them in. You can even use the enhanced javascript-based Mobile Safari integration to automate the transition process. And they promise more to come (check out the video how-to). Can’t wait. [$5.99 - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

You’re part of team TiPb too, so what’s your pick? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us — and everyone — know in the comments!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

BeeJiveIM, Zombieville USA, App Store, Pocket Tunes Radio, AT&T Navigator, Oleophobic Screen, 1Password Pro – TiPb Picks of the Week

First push-Instant Messenger (IM) apps, now Turn-by-Turn Navigation? Can our long standing dreams finally become reality?

A few days ago we mentioned Gokivo + Yahoo! Maps had made it into the App Store. Now it’s joined by:

AT&T Navigator [free - iTunes Link] provides an iPhone front end to AT&T’s $9.99/month subscription service.

MobileNavigator Europe ($94.99 – iTunes link) features Reality View Pro, Lane Assistant Pro, Speed Assistant and Day & Night Mode component as well as the opportunity, to show POIs along the route. (See YouTube for the gist)

What’s interesting from a user-perspective is the ranger of options we’ll likely be seeing: either free or $0.99 up front and ongoing subscriptions, or more expensive up front (will $100 be the price point?) and no subscriptions — though will we have to wonder about charges for updated maps eventually?

What’s your preference?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

AT&T Navigator and MobileNavigator Europe — Turn-by-Turn Navigation Hits the iPhone App Store