All Things iPhone

NAVIGON Adds Google Local Search to iPhone Navigation App and Reduces Price to $59.99 for Limited Time
NAVIGON App First On-Board Solution for iPhone to Include Google Local Search, Free Update Delivers 13 New Features and Enhancements

—NAVIGON AG, the leading innovator in the navigation market, today announced the availability of the fourth free update (1.4.0) for its successful iPhone navigation App, MobileNavigator. The comprehensive update focuses on streamlining and accelerating navigation on the iPhone offering key components such as the integration of online Google Local Search into the application, an industry first among on-board navigation Apps for the iPhone. The update includes many new functions such as an enhanced pedestrian navigation, an audiobook mode, and directions in a turn-by-turn list format, an Emergency Help function, geographic Coordinate Input and more. In order to introduce this major update to the market, NAVIGON reduces the price of the App from $89.99 to $59.99 until January 11, 2010.

The latest version makes use of the iPhone connectivity capabilities, enhancing the navigation experience with Internet connected services such as recently launched Traffic Live, and now the integration of Google Local Search. Users have instant access to the most up to date point of interest (POI) search results. Simply entering, “steak” for example, provides a comprehensive list of steak restaurants nearby. It is also possible to search for places in a certain area by just adding, for example, the name of the city to the search.

“This comprehensive update once again provides many sought-after features to our customers,” said Gerhard Mayr, NAVIGON vice-president worldwide mobile phones & new markets. “It shows that we are committed to providing our customers the best navigation experience available for the iPhone.” According to the latest market data from Canalys, NAVIGON is the industry leader of on-board/perpetual navigation solutions for mobile phones in the U.S. with a market share of 23 percent.

Version 1.4.0 further extends the efficiency and precision of the iPhone built in capabilities with additional enhancements such as a versatile pedestrian mode transforming the iPhone into a device not only excellent for navigating by car, but also on foot. Pedestrian mode is equipped with the iPhone compass, with in the application and an option for a 3D map with automatic orientation in the direction the walker is headed (3G S only), so users can at a glance know which direction they are moving. Rounding out pedestrian mode includes instant re-route and aerial direction display is only a tap away.

Features and Enhancements of Version 1.4.0:

• • Google Local Search
• • Enhanced pedestrian mode
• • Turn-by-Turn Route List Provides a detailed list of directions, which update automatically during navigation; eliminating each maneuvers in real-time.
• • Audiobook Mode Drivers can now enjoy even more of their iPod while in-route music and audiobooks without missing MobileNavigator’s clear text-to-speech navigation announcements. In music mode the volume is automatically reduced during the voice announcement. Now while listening to audiobooks and navigation, playback is automatically paused and rewound for one second while directions are given, and resumes playing when the directions stop.
• • Coordinate Input Employ longitude and latitude coordinates as a destination as an alternative to traditional input like an address or POI by name. Email geographical coordinates for precise location identification.
• • Emergency Help Tapping one of the predefined categories such as Police, Hospital, Pharmacy or Gas Station provides detailed textual description of current position sorted by distance. Includes list with the street name, zip, city, distance to next big intersection, and geographic location. Emergency Help tells you exactly where you are, so you can tell other how to get to you.
• • Favorites displayed in map Destinations marked as favorites by the user are now displayed on the map in a named flag icon.
• • Swipe Screen integration for Traffic Messages Users can browse Traffic Live messages with the flick of a finger.
• • Contacts as interim destinations One-tap sets contacts as an interim destination. Using contact groups in the phonebook as interim destinations is now also possible.
• • GPS display enhancements If the iPhone GPS signal becomes too weak during navigation, indicated by a red bar on the top of the display; MobileNavigator now calculates the approximate position and shows the estimated position in the map (grey positioning indicator) to provide better orientation. Active route guidance remains switched off but continues normal navigation until a valid signal is available.
• • 3D map zooming As they navigate, users can now zoom in on the map section both in the 2D and 3D display using the iPhone’s intuitive fingertip control.
• • Country Info When the user crosses a country border, pointing out the country’s most important traffic regulations – such as the maximum permissible speeds or alcohol limits.
• • Faster start-up

Availability:
The NAVIGON solution is available in the Apple App Store and is equipped with maps of North America (USA, Canada, Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands) from NAVTEQ®. Besides being available for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, the NAVIGON App also runs on first-generation iPhone or an iPod Touch. Additional accessories are required for GPS navigation on these devices.

For more information, please visit: www.navigon.com/iphone.

Find NAVIGON on:
Twitter: www.navigon.com/twitter_US
Facebook: www.navigon.com/facebook
Flickr: www.navigon.com/flickr
Youtube: www.navigon.com/youtube

About NAVIGON:
NAVIGON AG is a world-leading manufacturer of navigation systems. With its own portable navigation systems, and thanks to its partnership with reputable consumer electronics manufacturers, NAVIGON stands for high-quality GPS navigation on PNDs and mobile phones. NAVIGON also provides professional navigation solutions such as driver-assistance features for the automotive OEM market. NAVIGON was founded in 1991, and employs over 400 workers in locations in Asia, Europe and North America. – NAVIGON. And the world is yours.

Tune Wiki

TuneWiki, the next generation social media music player, has passed half a million downloads for iPhone, less than a month after its July 13th iTunes app store debut. Making it one of the fastest growing independent apps in iPhone App Store history! This impressive benchmark comes after a succession of accomplishments for the iPhone app, including reaching #5 on the US free music app download list within a day of its debut. With the largest licensed database of music lyrics, global music maps, social TuneWiki Blip Technology—which allows users to post their current song selection to Facebook or Twitter—and the ability to run in the background, TuneWiki has provided iPhone users with the functionality they have been waiting for in a music player. The first 30 days of iPhone downloads:

Worldwide:

552,666 in more than 80 countries.

Top countries:

1. USA 284,916
2. UK 52,854
3. Japan 47,165
4. Canada 27,616
5. Italy 26,845
6. Australia 12,357
7. Netherlands 11,668
8. Mexico 11,601
9. Spain 10,188

Download on iTunes

We have reached feature completion status for our MonoTouch project and we are looking for some adventurous iPhone developers that might be interested in trying out Mono for the iPhone and the MonoTouch APIs (A C# API for building Cocoa applications).

Mono Touch

We are doing a closed preview to gather feedback on MonoTouch, if you would like to be part of this preview/beta, please fill out the signup form.

You can browse the source code for the sample widget catalog built using the MonoTouch.UIKit .NET binding to Cocoa’s UIKit.

[via Tirania]

Apple PR has just announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and member of the Apple board of directors since August 2006, is resigning that position.

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”

This comes on the heels of Schmidt announcing he would “talk with Apple people”, and on the controversial rejection of Google Voice and Google Latitude applications from the App Store, both now constrained to WebApp status on the iPhone and iPod touch.

[via The iPhone Blog]

Microsoft’s top devices exec says the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 OS will provide a better web browsing experience than iPhone.

The new version of Microsoft’s mobile operating system is due to launch this Autumn, and is likely to co-incide with a rebranding to Windows Phone.

“You will have a very rich browsing experience on 6.5 devices that will give you access to more websites than you will be able to get to on an iPhone that will work actively and work well,” says Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division.

“It really is a much better experience.” He was speaking at Microsoft’s annual financial analyst meeting late last week.

[via Mobile Ent]

SIM Eject Tool

you constantly swapping SIM cards between your iPhone 3G/3GS and another GSM based phone? The iPhone has an opening for your card at the top of the phone though removing it requires a special tool. If you lose the tool then you’ve virtually no chance of removing the SIM. Instead consider this $2.99 SIM Eject Tool that also has a rubber tip to make it easy to store the eject tool in your iPhone 3G/3GS headphone jack so that it’s not easily lost. Compatible with the iPhone 3G/3GS — there is an iPhone only model available here.

SIM Eject Tool for iPhone 3G/3GS – $2.99

See how weak Apple’s security on your shiny new iPhone 3GS is. Hopefully, after watching this you will be a little more careful about what you put on your iPhone.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless said Friday it added 1.1 million net customers for its second quarter, which is behind rival AT&T (NYSE: T)’s subscriber growth for the same period.Verizon released its subscriber numbers before its quarterly earnings announcement, which will be issued Monday, and one day after AT&T reported a strong second quarter with 1.4 million new customers. Verizon is still the largest U.S. carrier with 87.7 million customers, but it is facing increased competition in the high-end and low-end markets.

Apple’s iPhone 3GS had a successful launch during the second quarter, and it sold over a million units worldwide during its debut weekend. While not all of these were for AT&T, the iPhone has proven to be capable of poaching high-spending customers away from Verizon, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile. AT&T said it activated 2.4 million iPhones in the quarter, and more than two-thirds of its new subscribers came for Apple’s touch-screen smartphone.

[via Information Week]

iPhone activations in the May to June 2009 quarter surged 50 percent from the first quarter’s 1.6 million. Activations surged largely due to the June 19 launch of the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3G S at $199 and $299, respectively, and a reduction in the price of the 8GB iPhone 3G to $99 from $199. The 3G S models double cellular-download speeds and double memory capacity over their predecessors.

“The day of the launch was the best sales day ever for AT&T’s retail stores, and att.com experienced its largest order day ever on that day,” AT&T said. More than a third of the iPhones activated in the second quarter were activated by consumers new to the AT&T network, the company said.

[via Twice]

Noted iPhone security destroyer Jonathan Zdziarski has cracked the iPhone 3GS encryption security, which is to be expected, but the ease and speed with which he did it is worrisome. Zdziarski claims the iPhone 3GS is thus “useless” to businesses. The iPhone certainly isn’t as ubiquitous for corporate use as BlackBerry or even Windows Mobile, but that’s starting to change, and Zdziarski is very concerned that the iPhone 3GS’s security puts sensitive data at unnecessary risk. He claims that with easily-available software, anybody can break into an iPhone 3GS and start extracting data within two minutes, and access everything on the phone within 45. After reading this, we could see why companies might just be reluctant to trade their BlackBerrys in for a shiny new iPhone 3GS.

[via Gizmodo]