Garmin announces delays for the Nuvifone

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MobileCrunch reports today that Garmin has provided details in its second quarter earnings call that the Nuvifone has been delayed until the first quarter of 2009.

From the analysis calls today:

The nüvifone will not be available in fourth quarter as previously announced. While we had hoped to have carrier launches in the fourth quarter, we have found that meeting some of the carrier specific requirements will take longer than anticipated. We remain pleased with carrier interest in the device and are working toward making necessary design changes to meet their requirements. We anticipate launching the product during the first half of 2009

In short: The Apple iPhone 3G is beating a lot of players in this space and I suspect that the availability of the Nuvifone right now would be a real flop.

I'm still unsure about the viability of this product as it was announced to counter the iPhone 3G announcement at the WWDC in June.

My best guess is that this product will be pulled before it actually hits the road. It's too late now for Garmin to get any traction over the iPhone 3G which already has an embbeded GPS chip. Carriers knows this and that's why they are reluctant in supporting this phone.

Happy location reporting - Martin

The Location-based revolution is coming according to GigaOm

Om Malik, founder and senior writer of GigaOm, has a nice perspective on why the commoditization of GPS and the associated emergence of Location-Based services is poised to change the market. Here's the interesting excerpt:

But lately I’ve been feeling like I may have been too conservative with my outlook for the location-based services revolution.
The main reason is the ubiquitousness of mobile phones; the sheer number of them that get shipped each year guarantees LBS a huge audience. Of course, in order for LBS to be on mobile phones, we need applications, which is where I believe the iPhone plays a vital role. Its large screen and built-in GPS (and now its 3G speeds) enable and encourage truly interesting LBS applications.

I think the introduction of an embedded GPS chip within the iPhone is what the LBS industry needs to move itself forward. Sure, we had a number of different cell phones in the past with embedded GPS chips. And this is the core of the problem: they were different cell phones with very different characteristics. So why is the iPhone different? It relies mostly with developers and their ability to create truly rich mobile applications. No more of those crappy Java-based apps. With that richness, comes very immersive applications.

If you add into the mix location-based services, then you got the perfect recipe for the best location-based device. And this was echoed by the Loopt CEO at the WWDC keynote: "This is the best version of Loopt we've ever made, and by far the best device we've had the opportunity to work with. We've developed for every mobile platform out there, this one is the best and the most powerful" [WWDC Keynote @ 0:28:32]

Although this comment was made in the context of the WWDC, so you should remove some adjectives, I'm convinced that this platform will push forward LBS services further than anything that has been attempted so far.

Happy location reporting - Martin

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The 3G iPhone - My predictions for the WWDC keynote

The Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) will be held next week starting with the keynote address by Steve Jobs on Monday June 9th @ 10:00 am PDT.

It is widely expected that Steve will announce a new 3G iPhone that will support the HSDPA standard for higher data exchange throughput.

There has been a huge number of predictions within the industry about what this phone will do and not do. So I decided to jump in the game and provide a list of my own :

Form Factor

The iPhone form factor will be reduced, current rumors is that it will be 22% thinner. Apple always strive for minimizing the form factor of new devices (new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air). I'm not sure if it will be 22% thinner but it will be thinner for sure. So this one is strong on the list.

Probability: 9/10

GPS

With recent updates to the Google Maps application and the strong push by Apple for location-based services, it is almost certain this new iPhone will have an embedded GPS chip. This will further acknowledge the recent market push for Location-based services (Loopt, BrightKite, FireEagle) and will help propagate them to higher levels of acceptance.

This one is really a no-brainer. If it is not included, the market will not be happy.

Probability: 10/10

On a side note: Expect a huge announcement storm of iPhone-specific LBS at the WWDC conference.

Camera

The current iPhone camera is good. According to sources, the new phone will be powered by the Broadcom chip which can easily handle a 5 Megapixel camera. I expect Apple will go all out on this and provide a 5Mpx camera to be on par with the Nokia N95.

Probability: 7/10

Since the 3G iPhone can handle higher data throughputs, video conference calls are now possible. To properly support this, a front side camera is needed (like in the Nokia N95). Will Apple follow this trend, I'm really not sure here because it really changes the design of the phone.

Probability: 4/10

Memory Size

We have seen the introduction of the 32Gb iPod Touch recently. So I expect Apple to announce the availability of a 32Gb 3G iPhone along with the current 16Gb version we also have today.

Probability: 8/10

Versions

From my understanding, and the reading I've been doing, it looks like Apple will be providing a white colored iPhone. However I still think the more upscale Black version will still be provided. In the same line as the MacBook line (where black is the upscale line), the white version will be used in subsidized markets and will basically be a 3G iPhone but with less memory and not front-side camera.

The Black version will be a fully featured 3G version with the front side camera.
Apple really needs to offer more than one version to reduce supply chain issues it has been experimenting over the past few months.

Probability: 6/10

In the end

Consumers are again going to rush to get this new device. I will, for sure, update mine as well. With the iPhone officially coming to Canada, thanks to the Rogers partnership, and other new countries, Apple is really disrupting the mobile market.

I really applaud them for their efforts.

We will see how I score on Monday. Feel free to provide your own predictions or comment on mine in the comments.

Happy location reporting - Martin

Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) is sold out.

For the first time in it's history, the WWDC is sold out. I think this is a clear indication of the popularity of the iPhone and the associated SDK.

The opening of the Apple AppStore (in June ?) will surely be very interesting as eager indie developers rush out to be first to market with new and cheap (99 cents) application for the iPhone.

I was also toying with the idea of attending WWDC to get insight on the iPhone SDK.

This is surely a hot space to watch given the number of new mobile providers that have signed on to distribute the iPhone (Canada - Rogers being one of them).

Happy location reporting - Martin

Apple releases the fifth version of the iPhone SDK

Well Apple is very quick to turn out new revisions of it's iPhone SDK. They just released the 5th version of the SDK available for download here.

Apple is clearly sending a signal that it wants this to be very successful and keeps stabilizing and updating the SDK in a very agile manner.



Happy location reporting - Martin

Reportage - The Splash Screen

Here's the splash screen for Reportage.



But according to the iPhone User Interface Guidelines, application should not have a splash screen, so this is going into the credits section then.

Coming soon for your iPhone
Happy location reporting - Martin

Reportage en cours...

Coming soon for the iPhone...

Happy location reporting - Martin

iPhone SDK works on PowerMac Architecture

The iPhone SDK has been released by Apple a week ago and already there is has been over 100 000 downloads of the kit. As you can imagine, I was the first inline to get it. However upon installation on my Dual G5, I was surprised to see that there was no iPhone project templates available in XCode. After some researching, it found this note posted on Apple Site about support for Intel-based architecture Mac only.



So I was contemplating the purchase of a dedicated Mac Mini box as a development machine until I hit this site that explains how to use the SDK on a PowerMac architecture.

After following every steps, voila !!!



Now I will delve into the CoreLocation API and report back here soon.

Update: If you are using the iPhone SDK Beta 2, please follow the directions here instead.

Happy location reporting - Martin

iPhone SDK and developer's roadmap to be announced on March 6th

Apple sent a number of press invitations to attend the unveiling of the iPhone SDK / roadmap on March 6th at the Apple Cupertino Campus.

I'm really eager to learn what Apple is planning for developers and especially the deployment model of iPhone third-party applications. As I eluded in a previous post, I'm afraid that all applications will have to be channelled through the ITunes application and that they will exercise some kind of policing of applications.

I just remember when FaceBook application directory was flooded with pending applications and developers had to provide backdoor links to provide Facebook users access to it.

More info and move coverage to be done after the unveiling.

Happy location reporting - Martin

Update: It seems my fear of Apple being the watchdog of iPhone third-party applications has been officialized by AppleInsider.

Mobile Location-Based services: The Ins and Outs of the latest crop

I've noticed that there is a lot of activity around Mobile Location-based services lately. My Google reader starred items is showing a higher number of articles on that subject that I need to research.

Let's review some of the early announcements and provide some insights starting with the new Apple iPhone Firmware 1.1.3 announced at MacWorld in early January.

Apple iPhone/iPod Touch firmware 1.1.3

This announcement has been covered in numerous blogs and brings the "MyLocation" feature of Google Maps to the iPhone which I have covered earlier. However Apple has added the Wifi-sensing technology from SkyHook Wireless to the mix. This is very interesting as this technology is also available in the latest firmware upgrade for the iPod Touch as well. SkyHook Wireless is really the leading provider of Wifi-sensing positioning technology today. The inclusion of this technology within the new firmware is also a huge setback for it's competitor: Navizon. I've been following both companies for a long time now and I'm now surprised to see SkyHook being selected as the chosen winner by Apple.

SkyHook was financed early on by Intel Capital and is based on derivative work from the PlaceLab projet originated at Intel Labs. Given Apple very close relationship with Intel, it was natural fit that they would be selected. Navizon is surely not gaining any strengths with this announcement and will likely go underwater unless they can strike a deal with a competing company. Which one ? I'm still searching.

I've tried to use the Navizon software on my iPhone and the experience was really painful. The web site would not register me correctly and the software failed every time.

SkyHook: in, Navizon: out

Loopt partnership with CBS Mobile

On February 6th, GigaOM and a number of bloggers announced that Loopt has signed a partnership with CBS Mobile to help them push location-based ads to their customers. CBS will be using Loopt GPS technology to enable location-specific ads to be overlaid of top of web sites browsed by CBS mobile customers. I'm not really sure what is the added value of Loopt in this equation. Loopt, which was covered earlier as well, started out as a mobile personal-locator service and is financed by Sequoia Capital. However, there has been some shakeup within Loopt as the executive vice president of corporate development and marketing left the company to become the EIR at Charles River Ventures. Was that a sign of the new orientation for the company? Also given all the VC money going into Mobile Ads company (AdMob is a prime example), it seems that Loopt is moving sideways from it's early direction.

Also, compared to SkyHook or Navizon, Loopt does not have a lot of investments into locating technologies. It mainly relies on the embedded GPS chips within the cellphone or uses the AutoDesk positioning framework to pinpoint the location of the user. And currently, it's offering can only be used by Sprint / Boost Mobile customers. I think this is a too narrow market to actually be successful and something I still argue needs to be addressed. We will see where this is going but I doubt very much that Loopt will be successful in the Location-Based Advertisements (LBA) market.

Loopt: fading

Happy location reporting - Martin

Air: The Only Thing Left In Your Wallet After You Buy Apple’s New Laptop

Very interesting quote from Duncan Riley of TechCrunch

Air: The Only Thing Left In Your Wallet After You Buy Apple’s New Laptop

Also,  I'm in the process of updating my iPhone to firmware release 1.1.3 and I will report on the new
pseudo-GPS functionality (via cell tower trilateration and wifi beacon sensing) in an upcoming post.

Happy location reporting - Martin

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The iPhone untold story revealed

A very very interesting article by Wired about the untold story of the iPhone:

The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry

Happy location reporting - Martin

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