Navigon will have Live Traffic

If true, there is no doubt this is the TBT to get

 

this has been known for a while... going to navigon.com/iphone shows that TMC is coming, and thats been on the webaite for several weeks

 

this will probably be a in app purchase, unless they follow the route of there car units. I purchases a car unit in the past from navigon and one of the main selling points was that they were one of the few brands to inlcude free traffic.

 

Hi
I askedthe question and got the below response (their typing errors not mine!

Dear Sir,
thank you for your inquiry.
You will have to pay the leicince fee for the uk which at the moment costs 9 pounds.
You will also have to buy a TMC antenna.

Should you have any further questions, don't hesitate to contact us


Yours sincerely
________________
NAVIGON Support Team
Stephen Walsh

they didnt say how much the antenna would be or wether the license fee was for one year or unlimited

 

We'll need another piece of hardware just to get traffic updates for Navigon?

 

I believe it uses a specialized radio frequency or some nonsense. Nav units that support live traffic have this antenna built in.

 

Stephen Walsh was apparently confused and thought you were talking about a STANDALONE Navigon unit as opposed to the iPhone application.

There's no way that the iPhone application will require a separate data receiver, they will get the traffic data over the air through 3G/EDGE data connection, no extra hardware will be needed.

So, everyone, calm down about the comment one confused low level rep makes.

 

Actually, it is just FM, as in FM radio frequencies.

 

Of course, I think this is the case also. But how can you be so sure?

 

Because there is simply no way in hell that any kind of accessory would be needed for traffic updates when the built in network is available.

You're talking about tiny amounts of data, typically a code that consists of the metro area, highway/road number, mile market, type of incident, and length of delay.

So, maybe 10-20 kB.

They are not going to make you go out and buy a special receiver for that when the iPhone is more than capable of doing this easily over even an EDGE connection.

Also, the 9 BP price per year is the type of subscription charge you would pay for a standalone GPS.

In all likelihood Traffic for the iPhone will be a single in app purchase, not a subscription model, which would be difficult for Navigon to implement and extremely unpopular with customers.

 

updates will be OTA using the data connection, they are on other navigon phone products

 

The first nav app in the US itunes store was --- a per month subscribtion based nav app. So it's not hard to implement.

Every single platform has live traffic feature as a subscription --- there is nowhere to go for the customers who don't like it.

 

There is NO WAY they are going to require an accessory.

Traffic will be over the iPhones internet connection.

Subscription? We'll have to wait and see on that, however you may note that NAVIGON's stand alone devices have lifetime traffic. I seem to recall something about NAVIGON owning one of the traffic providers?

 

Nice. Another reason for me to go with Navigon. I'm going to eventually make my decision on the 30th before Navigon goes back to full price.

 

Yeah they won't require hardware for traffic updates. That would be absurd.

 

Traffic rerouting would be the best thing here in LA. Would subscribe to the lifetime updates to traffic.

 

Being from LA, I agree! navigon is looking so good.

 

I thought the same as you despite the word iPhone being clearly stated in my question. I have asked for clarification so will keep you informed if I hear anything back

 

got a response, seems there was a mistake:


Dear customer,
thank you for contacting the NAVIGON support team.

Unfortunately there*was a mistake in the information you were given.TMC for the iphone*currently isnt available but it will be abvailable shortly in the late summer.

Also there is no information on pricing.So please disregard the 9 Pounds you were quoted.

Finally there is no current information on the TMC aerial for the iphone.Please check the App Store perhaps there will be information on this there.

For further information on your product please see the link under :

http://www.navigon.com/site/us/en/mobile_navigator/iphone

 

Yeah, some cars with FM RDS can get them. My grandfathers car when he was visiting from the mid-west got a warningin PA about heavy taffic and that it was moving at 65 mph. He was of course confused because that's the speed limit and PA we drove fast.

Baltimore and DC traffic is a real bitch too. I bought navigon because I think they as a GPS nav software that has an excellent routing engine will get it too for everday use.

 

EDIT: ignore

 

It wasn't audio. RDS on FM is text that your radio can disply. For example, it could be displaying the song, and station you are listening too.

 

My mistake