Pluggedin.co.uk: In it’s latest move, global giant Apple has joined forces with superior sat nav producer TomTom to provide maps and navigational information for their future devices.
While Apple hopes this will overthrow the dominance of mobile navigation held by Google, TomTom has entered the mutually beneficial agreement to extend its focus from personal electronics to intellectual property – with the move already increasing its share prices by 10 per cent.
Yet, while the benefits the companies hope to achieve are clear, what does the move mean for us?
The biggest names in technology
With Apple iOS devices set to receive new mapping technology, it is interesting to note how this decision will change the face of technology.
Commenting on the move, TomTom explained that the three biggest producers of mobile operating systems were Nokia, Windows and Google’s Android whilst the three biggest names in navigational software were Nokia, Google and, of course, TomTom itself.
This move will see each major operating system partnered with a different navigational expert – with Apple distancing itself from its former provider Google.
Localised mapping
Alongside its partnership with TomTom, Apple also intends to add localised mapping to its new iOS devices through the use of Yelp. This service will provide three dimensional views of locations with turn-by-turn navigation available.
This is already a well established feature of Google Maps and is fully developed on Android devices. However, the Google-powered service was not as established on iOS devices, making the move a smart one by Apple.
The future of mobiles
For those already in possession of one of the latest smartphones, this news could translate to virtually no change in their lives. But for the future of mobiles, the potential impacts are excessive and this union could see the nature of smartphones irrevocably altered.
There is already a great deal of rivalry in the world of personal navigation – with devices such as Samsung Wave 3 already using satellite navigation provided by TomTom – and Apple’s decision to favour this form of GPS could result in another fierce battle with Google.
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