The move could hit GPS navigation companies like Garmin and Tom Tom hard as they charge a heavy premium for their service.
Tom Tom charges $100 for the GPS software for the iPhone. Compare this with the free turn-by-turn based navigation application by Google. Many customers will now find these applications too expensive.
Further, the new application could also slow down the momentum of Apple and its Iphone. By launching the application on its forthcoming Android phone, Goggle has made it clear that it is no long reserving the best applications for Apple’s iPhone.
The search giant has developed some of the core applications for iPhones like Search, maps, YouTube etc.
But Apple and Google are no longer on good terms. A few months ago, Apple had rejected Google Voice app for the iPhone. Before that, Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, stepped down from Apple’s board of directors.
With its upcoming mobile operating system, Google is all geared to take iPhone head on, a latest sign of growing rivalry between the two tech giants.
Noteworthy features
The advanced features in the beta version of Google Maps Navigation application unveiled Wednesday include, 3D views, turn by turn guidance, voice search, crowdsourced traffic data, Street View navigation and automatic rerouting.
Keith Ito, a Google software engineer, stated in a blog post that, “unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection".
The navigation application acts as an interface to Google’s search engine leading to search along a route, natural language search, not found in applications developed by GPS kingpins Garmin and Tom Tom.
End users welcome navigation app
The navigation application by Google has been appreciated by majority of the end users. Many of them have expressed their approval through blogs and forums.
A user named marmot_egg posted his view on engadget.com, “OMG Wow! The main reason I got my phone was for GPS and GPS only! I use my phone in my car so much to navigate and completely rely on it.
"The fact that Google put this into their very own OS is revolutionary to say the least and I must say it is what is going to cause this OS to be the best in the business. This is what a smartphone is all about.”
Another user named 3dime stated on TechCrunch, “Nice to make map look in 3 dimentions, with converging lines. It looks like front view than top view. I have never seen this converging lines in maps software, though this method is used in arts a lot. This may not even require a compass.”
“Good for competition. I am in the iPhone camp, but these moves keep everyone honest. Ultimately, prices will go down, features will go up, and consumers win,” commented a users named adam smith on the same site.
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