On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 11:20:15 -0500,
[email protected] wrote:
>Jasper Janssen <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>If you get, say, Nokia Series 60 phones (Or Sony-Ericsson p800/900/910),
>>which are relatively easy to develop apps for (they run Symbian, which is
>>vaguely related to linux), you should be able to do it. Communicate
>>between the phones over GPRS, have each phone communicate over Bluetooth
>>to a GPS receiver. It'd not be something for the faint of heart to get
>>that working, though.
>
>I see
>
>Do you think it will be standard feature in cell phones
>someday?
Well, GPS software along the "satellite navigation for cars" model is
available both for Series 60 Nokias (and clones, it's an open platform)
and the Sony-Ericsson p910 & co, just as it is for PocketPC PDAs (Same
processor, in fact, just mine in my phone runs at a 'meagre' 104 MHz while
modern PDAs have a version that goes at 400-600 MHz). Some PocketPCs now
have a GPRS/GSM phone function built in, as well, which speaks to the
continuing convergence there. Other PocketPCs have built-in GPS receivers,
mainly marketed as cheap satnav gear that you can also use as a PDA.
TTBOMK, no PPC has more than one of GSM, GPS, or high-res VGA screen,
though, which is a bit of a shame.
So the hardware (although you need two boxes working together) with the
capability is already there, at around 300-400 dollars a pop. However, I
think that the application, at least specific to riders, is enough of a
niche that it's unlikely to be much of a commercial success, certainly not
enough to be justified as standard on phones.
On the other hand, for other niches there *is* a market. Here in Europe we
just got a mobile smartphone with a built in GPS receiver (and software
deliberately held simple) specifically marketed to the elderly -- they
press a button on the thing, it calls one of a set of duty nurses
somewhere in a central place, and that person gets voice speakerphone
contact plus the GPS coordinates of the place on her screen. Sort of the
mobile equivalent of the US 911 system for landlines, except a bit more so
(which we, at least in the Netherlands, don't have properly implemented.
There's a central alarm number, yes, but no address-on-the-screen
capabilty even for landlines).
If phones with built-in GPS ever get critical mass, we might get
"groupware" apps for youngsters (since they drive the gadget market) that
use the concept.
Jasper
