Turn-by-turn iPhone apps pathetic, so far.

by WyldKard on June 23, 2009

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AT&T, known for gouging people due to what we can assume is only pure greed, just released AT&T Navigator, a turn-by-turn GPS app that we can describe as pathetic at best. Never mind that the application is free to download, because it relies on a monthly subscription of $9.99 to actually work. The sadness doesn’t end there, however, because the application neither integrates the local address book, nor works without a data connection. Interestingly, for a company concerned about unnecessary bandwidth usage, one would think that AT&T would at least provide the option for users to download maps. Whether this is a limitation imposed by partner TeleNav or not is hardly the point: AT&T Navigator is crap.

A few days ago, people were upset that Gokivo, another GPS application, similarly restricted functionality to customers paying $9.99 per month, only their application costs $0.99 in the AppStore. The Blog was, apparently, incorrect in identifying Gokivo’s two-time wallet attack:

Note, Gokivo isn’t free just for the app because doesn’t let developers do in-app purchases for free apps. Hence, $0.99 will likely be the foundation for what TiPb considers iPhone “scaleware”.

If this were true, it would mean that AT&T is exempt from this rule, but a more likely scenario is that any app can charge for in-app features once downloaded, though this would, of course, remove the need for “lite” versions of applications in the AppStore, which we recall Apple not wanting. Admittedly, charging for content after a free AppStore download is questionable if the application is listed as a “free” one.

While the issue undoubtedly crosses application boundaries, as far as GPS is concerned, we’re not happy with the status quo at the moment. Quite simply, turn-by-turn GPS applications should not require a monthly subscription, particularly when they don’t in stand-alone GPS device. At least MobileNavigator Europe is playing fair, even though their “introductory” price of $94.99 is a tad high.

For comparison, updated Garmin maps for their devices run for about $70 online. New (decent) GPS devices, complete with updated maps, run for about $200+. Since iPhone owners already have the hardware, however, we’d expect to pay only for updated maps and the core using these maps. Really, anything more than $100 is definitely in unreasonable territory, unless we’re to expect future map updates for free, even if that’s just yearly.

Using the AT&T and Gokivo system, however, a user will easily move beyond the $100 price barrier in under a year, regardless of whether or not their map updates are free (which we’re guessing they are). But for unreliable systems (like when data service goes out), the price we’re talking for turn-by-turn is simply ridiculous. Hopefully, the folks at Tom Tom will set the iPhone GPS market straight, else another well-known GPS company (i.e. Garmin or Magellan) will enter the ring instead.

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