Google navigation coming to the iPhone and other mobile platforms

By on Apr 23, 2010 at 9:40 AM
Rumor April 23, 2010

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Google has been slowly extending its Maps Navigation feature throughout its Android platform starting with Android 2.0 devices, then Android 1.6 devices, and most recently to Android-powered handsets in the UK. As part of its UK announcement in London, Google re-confirmed its intention to bring this free navigation to other platforms including the Apple iPhone. No timeframe for release was mentioned for any of the alternative platforms, but with Google and Apple’s relationship a bit strained, hell may have to thaw a bit before this comes to fruition on the iPhone.

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  • David

    Yay! And first!

  • BB4Life

    Muffukin next!

  • BB4Life

    Muffukin next! Bitchesssss!

  • Zxc

    The makers of GPS nav units won’t enjoy this news

    • Tdot34

      Agreed, sell off your Tom Tom and Garmin stocks. Between this, and GPS units in cars becoming a standard thing, portable GPS navigation units will soon be obsolete.

      • user

        Nothing will replace a traditional portable navigation unit.

        Yes, there will be a part of the market that will get a mobile phone instead of a regular GPS unit (and GPS manufacturers are feeling some pricing pressure now), but a regular GPS unit with MAPS ON-BOARD will still be the preferred way people will want to get around for the forseeable.

        Yes, there is software with maps on-board but their prices do approach a real GPS unit (seen the prices on real GPS hardware lately? Way down)

        Now I’m not talking about the tech enthusiasts but average people who could live without the complexity (and insensitive unassisted GPS reception) of the average phone navigator.

        There are far too many roadblocks for the average user with GPS phones. Far too many. These devices are not as simple nor their GPS chips as sensitive as one expects (not without internet/network assistance, anyway).

        Garmin, Tomtom and others have very little to fear, in my mind.

      • http://www.rossmanngroup.com Louis Rossmann

        With a garmin, it shows as you come up onto a road.

        With a blackberry storm with google maps, trhe dot shows up, 15 seconds later the dot shows you passed where you want to go.

        You can make a phone work as a GPS just fine. But it’s not as refined as a garmin.

      • ChrisE

        Actually, in my experience Google Navigation on the Droid works at least as well as a Garmin, and better than most I’ve seen. Not only does it “show as you come up onto a road,” it zooms its 3D perspective in and out appropriately as you approach a turn, and gives print and audio instructions about it. It’s more advanced than any GPS device I’ve seen—Garmin, built-in, or iPhone.

      • Boba Fat

        Nothing will ever replace my trusty foldout map!

      • Mr. Anderson

        Boba, are you either A. ex military, B. over 40, or C. both

      • Tdot34

        I am neither of those, and I prefer a map over GPS.

      • user

        Boba,
        I liked your (I”m guessing) humorous reply.

        But I just don’t feel that tech enthusiasts visiting this site understand the usability and reliability differences between a dedicated GPS unit and a GPS phone. Sure it’s nice to think of a converged device replacing a dedicated one. But we still see dedicated calculators, translators, watches…

        Nokia have been offering free GPS maps and voice navigation for 10 of their phones. Have you checked their Nokia Discussions forums? Poor unassisted GPS reception problems, sometimes not working assisted GPS problems, fees for unknown data connections because certain settings in the software weren’t disabled, unsupported phones requesting a license, etc. The average non-tech user does not want this, let alone the enthusiast!

        Garmin’s nuvifone’s have failed completely. Tomtom charges the cost of a real GPS unit for their software (just ridiculous) and then asks you to purchase their cradle with their own built-in GPS chip in there (because the iPhone 3GS has such a poor GPS chip in there). Why would they do this if the iPhone was so good at GPS sensitivity?

        I love GPS but my GPS-on-phone experiences have always been poor compared to dedicated units. Nobody compares the cost between a fancy phone and a dedicated device (without contract) or fairly compares the reliability of dedicated-versus-phones, either.

        Google Maps “data connection lost” errors and inability to offer voice guidance in many countries is also rarely discussed. Simply not as reliable. I can go on.

        Even Nokia’s phones and software (free maps & voice guidance to 10 of their phones) are a sad second to a dedicated GPS unit in several areas (GPS sensitivity of their hardware is often sub-par when used offline, usability and reliability of the software often poor and buggy, etc).

        Again, it’s nice to think of converged devices taking over the world and I have no problem with GPS-on-phones, but I just don’t think the average users will be making a mass exodus from dedicated devices to converged in this area. There will always be some that do, but I don’t think the masses will.

  • Bob

    Come on, WebOS!

    • Bring Home The Wopper

      WebOS has bigger things to worry about than Google Nav

    • your mom

      Why use Google Maps when Sprint Navigation is way better.

  • http://www.wimmerahearingsociety.com.au/Archives/Tebonin.htm Tebonin

    I am still waiting Google…I believe in you make it perfect.

  • Android Guru

    I understand its all about ads, but for the life of me I still dont understand why Google would give away a feature that gives Android an edge. But Apple will probably block it anyway, TomTom will be pretty upset if they dont

    • Eric

      Apple my be forced to accept it because, well, if they don’t, it becomes a major differentiator between iPhone and Android. One that may push people to Android.

    • StevenGlansburg

      Well considering the iphone had the Google maps before Android (it was around two years prior) and that when Google Navigation came out last fall they said it would like come to other platforms besides Android, its really not a huge surprise now is it?

      • Norm

        16 months before, not two years

    • FunkyG

      -1 for saying you understand the reason but then not understanding, really.

    • http://www.rossmanngroup.com Louis Rossmann

      They will eventually slide in location based advertising into all of these applications and make tons off the revenue.

      It is a good idea for google to have their software on almost every device for every purpose. It gives a company like google, whose primary source of income is from data mining/advertising, a good position for future expansion.

  • http://davidhuey.posterous.com david

    blackberry?

  • Jones

    Wait, that can’t be right. According to Dear Leader, Android is only for porn.

    • Eric

      Sometimes when pron is not enough, you need directions to the Bunny Ranch…

      • Jones

        True…. and if it is capable of giving you directions to someplace naughty, then it must surely be rejected from the app store.

      • FunkyG

        @Jones

        -2 for your failed attempt at being witty. Twice

      • Norm

        Why did his attempt fail, I thought it was witty. And the subject matter is just ripe for humor.
        I think someone is a little upset and that blinded you from the true comedic value of his 2 statements.

  • MacMan

    There’s already an app for that. But would love it if it was free.

  • Drew

    Well, there goes one of our major features over the iphone platform… wow.. What are they thinking?!

    • StevenGlansburg

      uh oh, now you won’t cool anymore

      • Norm

        He will still cool, he will still cool

  • superhongry

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/194857/google_dashes_hopes_of_free_iphone_turn_by_turn_gps.html?tk=rss_news

    Conflicting report!

    PCWorld is quoting Google spokesperson as saying the opposite of what BGR is saying.

    • Boba Fat

      -1 for actually believing anything on this site.

      • Norm

        -1 for saying -1. Uh oh better -1 myself for this!

  • V fo Ve

    This is completely in line with Google’s phylisophy. They allow total freedom with their products and services while Apple likes total control. But Google’s freedom comes at the expense of your privacy.

    Yet, I am looking forward to getting the HTC Incredible with Google Nav.

  • Nikolaus

    BlackBerry????

  • Parshooter

    Google this week said it plans to bring Google Maps Navigation, its free turn-by-turn GPS software already available on Android, to other platforms, but disputed reports that it was confirmed for the iPhone [updated].

    According to MacUser, Google officials confirmed at a London, England, press conference that its satellite navigation software would be coming to “other” platforms, including the iPhone. No dates for potential availability were given.

    Update: Contacted by PCWorld, a Google spokesperson clarified and said that while the company will bring its software to “other platforms,” it has not confirmed the software is coming to the iPhone. “We did not say we would bring it to iPhone, we said to date we’ve had it on Android and that in the future it may come to other platforms but did not confirm this will be coming to iPhone at all,” the spokesperson said.

  • Tim

    How about Google puts navigation into all android phones first? The majority of android owners are still on 1.5 http://bit.ly/6j6MXA

  • FrankieFlo

    As long as apple has the suit against HTC…google should scale back their services and not offer them anything like this as a form of payback….the attack on HTC is like an attack on google…

    • MikeD

      Google can’t take sides. They put themselves in that position to be neutral because of the real core nature of their business… Ads. Apple is suing HTC on the grounds of patents, not on the grounds they run Android.

      If Google were to do something like that, it would hurt their goal of having as many “EYEBALLS” on their products. GOOGLE want to be everywhere. Literally. In your communications devices, TV, email, broadband lines and even power. Apple could easily replace Google maps with a competitor, and I bet Google isn’t willing to give up on 50+ million iPhones of which 8.7 million new iPhones sold just last quarter.

      HTC has to stand on its own and prove they didn’t violate the patents in question.

      Tit for tat response would blow up in Google’s face. Emotional business decisions can quickly take a business down.

      • Norm

        So 50mil iphone users, half of which don’t use their browser, is going to break google by not using its services?
        Sigh…….you fanboys!

  • http://www.hyundaifans.com hyundaifans.com

    I hope Google sticks it to Jobs and makes him pay to get G Nav on the iphone. After all, it is an Android advantage that Google should not hand over to a competing platform.

    • MikeD

      You CLEARLY do not understand Google’s core business. If you did, you’d understand why Google wants their apps on as many platforms as possible.

      • http://www.hyundaifans.com hyundaifans.com

        Seeing as Google has now confirmed “Hell no” its free Nav to the iphone, you CLEARLY are the one not knowing how Google works. I understand the concept of branding but giving away your crown jewel to a competing platform?? No way!

  • boogalooboy

    Not having google navigation on the iphone wont make much difference, there are already several gps options available, the only ones who seem obsessed with this are those too cheap to pay for a product and always want something free.

    Freeloaders, I think they are called.

    • MikeD

      exactly.

  • Nate

    I personally think Google should stop developing anything and everything for Apple. Some of the native apps for the iphone were written by Google and now Apple is going after Android with its ridiculous lawsuit aimed at HTC. Congrats Apple, you’ve made yourselves the new Microsoft and you don’t deserve a thing out of Google.

    • Mrwirez

      I agree.. Make them put the “GOOGLE” logo back on the search button, and DROP the HTC lawsuit.. First

  • DaishiKuro

    Google Navigation works surprisingly well considering it is still in Beta form. On a trip a couple of months ago, I had it running on my Droid while using OnStar turn-by-turn directions running. They were virtually identical.

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