AT&T and Pantech launched a new device this week, the Pantech Reveal, which is Pantech’s first “single-slider” phone. Overall, the phone has a nice feel to it and the inclusion of two key pads, the number pad when the slider is closed and the full keyboard when it’s open, makes it very handy to use. You can quickly dial a number with the slider closed and easily slide out the keyboard for messaging purposes. But perhaps the best feature in our humble opinion is that the phone comes preloaded with AT&T Navigator (powered by TeleNav).
We decided to take the Pantech Reveal out for a little spin and test some of the features included in AT&T Navigator on the phone. And because sharing is caring, we thought we’d bring along a video camera to show you the application in action. As you can see, it was very easy for me to find the destination I wanted to drive to and head out on my way. Some of the features you’ll see in the video include onscreen and voice turn-by-turn directions, text-to-speech (i.e. turn right on Kifer Road, not just turn right), real-time traffic alerts and the ease in which the POI database can be used to find a location.
Enjoy the video and if you picked up a Reveal or are planning to, let us know what you think of AT&T Navigator on the phone.
If you’re an iPhone owner using AT&T Navigator, you may have noticed that an update to the application became available last week. Hopefully you’ve had the chance to update your app and get a look at the new features. BUT, for those of you who haven’t had time to do this yet or who may not have found all of the updates within the application, we thought we’d shoot a brief video demonstrating a few of the new features.
This video includes the new support for landscape view while navigating, integrated iPod controls and improved audio. Enjoy the video and keep the feedback coming on what you’d like to see added to the AT&T Navigator for iPhone application or any of the other applications we develop here at TeleNav.
As some of you may know, last week CTIA held its annual Wireless I.T. & Entertainment event at the San Diego Convention Center. This event is always an exciting time in the mobile industry as many new phones are announced, cool new applications are launched, and a number of awards are handed out. A group of us from TeleNav headed down to San Diego for a few days to catch up with old friends in the industry and get a first-hand look of everything that was happening at the show. The San Diego weather and views (like this one from our hotel below) were a nice bonus.
Marina in San Diego
There was a lot going on for TeleNav last week in San Diego, so we thought we’d provide a brief recap. First off, there were a number of new phones announced last week that feature the apps we develop for some of our carrier partners including AT&T Navigator and Sprint Navigation as well as our own TeleNav GPS Navigator application. AT&T announced four upcoming phones including the Pantech Reveal, Pantech Impact, Samsung Mythic, and Samsung Flight. Sprint also announced a new phone, the Samsung Moment. And we can’t forget T-Mobile, which also came to play with the announcement of new phones including a myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition phone and the newly announced T-Mobile Tap. I can’t wait for the chance to play with some of these phones. And while that’s an impressive lineup of devices, the image below of some phones sporting the applications we develop is pretty impressive as well. We showed these phones at the Pepcom Mobile Focus press event.
An impressive lineup of phones
People enjoying the Pepcom Mobile Focus event
But that’s not all. Ravi Acharya, associate director of marketing for TeleNav’s B2B products, also participated on a panel at CTIA titled “Public and Corporate Fleets” where he discussed the benefits of our TeleNav Track products. TeleNav was also up for two awards last week for our TeleNav GPS Navigator v5.5 application. We were named a finalist in the Best Mobile Consumer Application category for the CTIA Hot for the Holidays Award. Jitterbug took the top honor for its LiveNurse application, so congrats to everyone at Jitterbug. We were also up for a Location 2.0 Summit Fast-Pitch Award in the Consumer Application category. We’re still waiting on those results, so keep your fingers crossed for us.
Ravi Acharya speaking at CTIA
As you can see, it was a very busy week for us, but we all had a great time and appreciated everyone from the CTIA, Pepcom and Location 2.0 events being so helpful to us.
We all know someone who seems to always be getting lost or arriving to events “fashionably late.” Well, here’s your chance to help that person out and give them the gift of GPS navigation right on their phone. Better yet, you don’t have to pay for the gift and you’ll even get it for yourself too! That’s right, we’re giving away a total of TEN (two for each winning entry) one-year subscriptions to TeleNav’s GPS navigation applications including TeleNav GPS Navigator and applications we develop for our carrier partners including AT&T Navigator, Alltel Navigation and Sprint Navigation. That means if your friend has an Apple iPhone, T-Mobile myTouch 3G or G1, BlackBerry or any of the hundreds of devices we support, you can hook them up.
It’s easy to submit as well. To enter to win, visit MONDAY’S BLOG POST and leave a comment explaining why your friend deserves to win one of the GPS navigation applications we develop. Full contest details are available for review in the post as well.
While you’re deciding which of your friends is most deserving of your generosity, here are a couple of fun mobile phone facts*. As you may know, TeleNav celebrated it’s 10th anniversary last week and we thought we’d show you how things have changed from the day our doors opened in 1999 to now. Enjoy!
Top Five Carriers in 1999 - AT&T, Vodaphone Airtouch, SBC Wireless, Bell Atlantic Mobile, Bell South Mobile Systems.
Top Five Carriers Today - Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel
Total Wireless Subscribers in 1999 - 86 million
Total Wireless Subscribers Today - 270.3 million (entering 2009)
Total Wireless Revenues in 1999 - $40 billion
Total Wireless Revenues Today - $148 billion
Cell sites in the US in 1999 - 81,698
Cell sites in the US Today - 192,068
Average number of minutes used per month in 1999 - 242
Average number of minutes used per month in 2009 - 800
Average monthly mobile phone bill in 1999 - $41.24
Average monthly mobile phone bill in 2009 - $50.07 (at end of 2008)
Cleary times have changed in the past 10 years. Now, go enter that contest and scoop up some free GPS navigation service for yourself and a friend.
* Data referenced from Telephony Magazine, the FCC, CTIA, RCR Wireless, IE Market Research and JD Power.
For those of you using AT&T Navigator (powered by TeleNav) on your iPhone, you may have noticed that an update is now available for the application. Contact integration is now available which means you’re able to easily navigate to the addresses you have stored for your contacts right from the application.
We shot this short video demo to show all of you iPhone users how to use the contact integration feature in AT&T Navigator on your phone. As you can see, it takes only a few steps to start navigating to a contact’s address.
Win TeleNav GPS Navigator Subscriptions from a Number of Web Sites
As many of our readers know, we occasionally run contests on the TeleNav blog giving away free subscriptions to TeleNav GPS Navigator (or one of the navigation applications from our carrier partners AT&T and Sprint). While this is one of our favorite things to do on the blog and we’ll certainly have contests in the future, this isn’t the only place you can get your hands on a free subscription. We often work with other Web sites to hold contests for their readers, so today we thought we would share a few of the contests that are currently running on these sites so you can enter to win one of our turn-by-turn navigation applications for your phone. Enter to win at any of the below:
TeleNav Track Delivers Location Information from a Mobile Handset to an easy to view Web-based system
As some of you may know, in addition to the consumer turn-by-turn navigation applications we develop here at TeleNav, we also develop a suite of location-based products for business customers called TeleNav Track. These products range from our “LITE” solutions that provide the back office, through a Web-based interface, with location information for mobile workers and resources to our Premium services which build on the capabilities of the LITE services by providing deeper operational tools such as wireless timecard entry and form completion, mileage tracking and vehicle diagnostic monitoring right from the field.
We currently have approximately 9,000 organizations using our TeleNav Track products through our carrier partners AT&T and Sprint and we’re constantly receiving feedback from our customers explaining how the improved visibility into the location of their mobile workforce has cut costs through reduced mileage, more efficient dispatching and better customer service. Check out some of our case studies.
But don’t just take our word for it. A recent report from Aberdeen Group provides the results of a survey of companies using GPS enabled services and the findings indicate that GPS services are certainly providing substantial ROI for businesses. This TMCnet article outlines some of the survey findings.
According to Aberdeen Group, use of GPS enabled solutions by businesses with mobile workers and resources has reduced idle time and increased fleet utilization. The survey results indicated that these companies have experienced substantial reduction in fuel costs and cut their miles driven by nearly one-third. Reduced time spent behind the wheel means more time on the job site, which might also explain why these companies have experienced a 23 percent increase in workforce productivity.
Our customers have reported similar ROI after implementing TeleNav Track into their operations. This ROI is likely the reason Aberdeen Group reports that monitoring of workers and vehicles by companies responding to the research have increased by 12 percent over last year’s figures. Aberdeen Group expects that number to continue to rise as more companies look to benefit from integrating location information into their operations.
If you’re a small business owner with mobile employees or the manager of a large fleet, now may be a good time to look into location-based solutions. In the current economy, any solution that has been proven to lower operating costs could be a wise investment.
Later this month, AT&T customers with mobile workers will have the option of using TeleNav Track LITE - a version of our service that does not require GPS nor additional software on AT&T devices including nearly all AT&T mobile phones, laptop cards and wireless equipped notebooks.
With TeleNav Track LITE, business managers can monitor their mobile workforce and resources on a Web-based map, even when they are inside buildings. Whether you have a small construction business or are an IT or department manager at a large enterprise organization, knowing where your mobile employees are can be extremely beneficial. For example, by analyzing routes and time spent on various job sites, managers can determine where their businesses can be more efficient. In addition, if dispatchers know where workers are, they can better communicate with customers to provide updates on delivery or service times.
AT&T’s director of industry solutions, Igor Glubochansky, said that by expanding AT&T’s TeleNav Track portfolio, the company is able to provide customers of all sizes with the ability to leverage mobile resource management solutions to gain a competitive advantage.
Are you using tracking services in your business? How have they improved your operations or customer service?
We know that many of you have been waiting to hear when we would be launching on the Apple iPhone. Well, after some hints that we were working on an application, we’re very excited to announce with our partner AT&T that AT&T Navigator (powered by TeleNav) is available today for $9.99/mo. on Apple’s App Store.
iPhone owners may be aware that the recently launched OS 3.0 software update enables turn-by-turn navigation right from the phone, moving beyond the traditional mapping services previously available on the iPhone to provide a comprehensive voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation experience. Here at TeleNav, we’ve become the leader in developing navigation applications for hundreds of mobile phones and have used our expertise in this area to work with AT&T to develop a great iPhone application that delivers the experience you’ve come to associate with AT&T Navigator and TeleNav products. Here are just a few of the features AT&T Navigator brings to your iPhone:
An always up-to-date experience - going beyond what you get with most personal navigation devices, AT&T Navigator for the iPhone uses the phone’s connectivity to ensure the maps and point of interest databases you’re depending on are up-to-date, with updates provided every three months
Turn-by-turn, voice guidance - unlike map services iPhone users have used in the past, AT&T Navigator incorporates turn-by-turn, voice-guided directions. Now you can go beyond a basic map view of your location and receive guidance along your entire route, factoring in elements such as traffic and your personal route preferences. Your iPhone is instantly turned into a powerful personal navigation device
Real-time traffic information - AT&T Navigator for the iPhone provides real-time traffic information and enables you to re-route around traffic at the push of a button
Gas Price Information - utilizing your iPhone’s connectivity, AT&T Navigator can instantly return results for gas prices in your area, even breaking it down by grade. If gas is 10 cents/gallon cheaper a mile down the road, you’ll know about it and save at the pump
Millions of Points of Interest - iPhone owners will have access to more than 10 million points of interest with AT&T Navigator, ranging from restaurants to ATMs to Wi-Fi hotspots. No matter where you’re traveling, you will have instant access to any business you may need to locate and easily navigate to it
Voice entry - AT&T Navigator for the iPhone incorporates voice entry, so not only can you type in an address or business, but with a single touch of the screen, you can speak it and the application will recognize the location and get you started on your way
Planning ahead - although AT&T Navigator can provide directions whenever you need them, we know that some of you like to plan ahead. With the iPhone application, you can preplan online and send addresses and business listings from your computer to your phone. The next time you start the application, the addresses will be available and ready for you to navigate to
Those are only a few of the features included in the application, so we encourage all of you iPhone owners to try the application for yourself. Once you try the application, please provide us with your feedback and be sure to rate the application on the App Store. We’re continually looking for feedback and ways to build upon our products.
We hope you enjoy AT&T Navigator on the iPhone and as mentioned before, we are certainly excited to be able to announce that the application is now live on the App Store. Click here to read today’s announcement.
Me with my BlackBerry Running AT&T Navigator, Global Edition
As some of you may recall from my last blog post, I recently took a trip to Asia to visit a friend and experience the rich culture. Well, I’m back from my Asian adventure and must say that I had a blast!
I’ll start off by saying that Beijing is such a beautiful city, steeped in ancient history. It is incredible to see buildings that were literally built centuries before the first minutes of history were ever recorded here in North America. It’s an awe-inspiring feeling to see, touch and walk in places that are older than anything I’ve ever seen before. It’s also hard to express in words how enormous everything is. In all my travels, I have never walked so many steps to look at each site, whether it was a palace or ancient temple. I think I climbed more stairs in one week than I’ve climbed in my entire life! If I wasn’t physically fit before my trip to Beijing, I certainly was by the time I finished it.
The entire experience was one that I’ll certainly treasure for a lifetime. From hiking on the Great Wall of China, to wandering through the Temple of Heaven, to eating some of the best food of my life in a nearby local village, each day was filled with a great spirit and sense of adventure.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was looking forward to using AT&T Navigator, Global Edition (powered by TeleNav) on my trip. I’m happy to say that it actually saved the day at one point during my vacation. My dad and I had been able to quickly learn the amazingly efficient Beijing subway system while visiting the city. One evening on our way back to our hotel, we emerged from the subway to find that it had started raining while we were on the train. Rain is actually an understatement; downpour is more like it. We were getting drenched fast and there was simply no winning in the competition to find a taxi outside of the crowded subway station. So, I pulled out my AT&T Navigator and used the pedestrian mode to guide us through the wet streets from the subway station to our hotel. If only my BlackBerry had a pop-out umbrella feature!
My Dad and I After Being Caught in the Rain
If you are thinking about planning a trip to Asia, I highly recommend making a stop in Beijing while you’re there. It is a great place to spend some time. Also, I would highly recommend taking AT&T Navigator, Global Edition along with you if you can. I quickly found that the rumors I heard were true - taxi drivers really don’t speak much English. But, that doesn’t have to stop you from finding your way if you have an easy tool to help guide you.
We’d love to hear if anyone else has interesting stories of how AT&T Navigator or any other TeleNav powered products such as Sprint Navigation or TeleNav GPS Navigator saved you while traveling.
![[del.icio.us]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[MySpace]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Newsvine]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/newsvine.png)
![[Reddit]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[Slashdot]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/slashdot.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Windows Live]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
By RSS
By Email
![[Furl]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/furl.png)
![[Email]](/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
