Google unveils free turn-by-turn directions for Android devices
A free turn-by-turn directions app for mobile phone is also a shot across the bow of the wireless carriers, most of which offer their own turn-by-turn direction apps that require a monthly fee, such as AT&T Navigator, which is also available for other cell phone platforms. It’s another indication that the growing prominence of smartphones is shifting the balance of power in the mobile space from carriers to device providers.
I will be interested to see how this plays out in the mobile space. A free turn-by-turn application on Android, iPhone, Blackberry, or any mobile phone would effectively kill the GPS market. This is a market that the even the wireless carriers play in, and at this point they can control what goes on phones and not.
It’s great that Google is beta testing this, but I’ll be interested to see if a carrier like Verizon, traditionally perceived as one of the most restrictive as to what gets featured on a phone, allows an Android phone to be launched with this built in. Sure Android is great, but remember that it’s open-source, and can be customized by each phone that implements it. Thinking back to a few years ago when Verizon disabled the bluetooth file transfer, I’m sure they would not hesitate to kill off this feature as well.
