Macworld 2012: Garmin Demos New Social Media And Wikipedia Integration For StreetPilot OnDemand
January 28, 2012
It's a given that a company such as Garmin, one of the top worldwide providers of GPS navigation hardware and software, would be looking to make a big splash at this year's Macworld / iWorld Expo. Along with highlighting their entire line of iOS apps, Garmin is demonstrating new social media options for their StreetPilot onDemand turn-by-turn navigation app and expanded sharing functionality for their Tracker general tracking app. As a nice little surprise, Garmin is providing a chance to win a copy of Garmin StreetPilot or Navigon MobileNavigator.
“We embrace apps in all of our business segments to support the increasingly mobile lifestyles of our customers and to complement our hardware offerings,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “At this year’s Macworld | iWorld, we will showcase our growing portfolio of iOS apps, including new features that help our users to stay connected and share location-based information with their friends and families.”Users of Garmin's StreetPilot onDemand, the slimmed down version of the company's StreetPilot Onboard apps, are now able to discover additional locations and perform check-ins using Facebook or Foursquare right within the StreetPilot onDemand app. The third service, or shall I say resource, being integrated to the app is Wikipedia. Just tap on the WIki icons to display the history, details, and statistics of landmarks and more. All three can be managed by going to Settings, then General, and finally Map Layers or Social Networking. To add a little flare to your experience, Garmin has added another voice personality and vehicle icon choices. The default vehicle icon choices include a sporty looking coupe, a compact car, and a beach ball. Yes, I did say beach ball. If you don't mind using storage space, several dozen more are freely downloadable. You can get select an X-Wing Fighter, SpongeBob, an ice cream truck, stallion, a paper airplane, and much more. Garmin StreetPilot onDemand is compatible with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S running iOS 3.1.3 or later, and available in the App store for $0.99. Premium features are available at an annual cost of $19.99, a 33 percent discount lasting through Jan. 28. The app does operate on 3G-enabled iPads, however, the UI is not iPad-optimized. Paired with a GPS tracking device, Garmin's Tracker app is a real-time position monitoring system capable of alerting you when a child reaches school, a pet sneaks out of the yard, or any other live tracking use. Combined with the $4.99 per month Deluxe Tracking service plan, the latest version of the app allows a continuous tracking mode and the ability to share a link to the map for others to see the device's position. Garmin Tracker is designed for iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 3.1.3 or later, and available in the App Store as a free download. The GTU 10 GPS Locator can be purchased in the online Garmin store for $199.99. As a bonus, Garmin is placing their other U.S. navigation apps on sale all during the expo, Jan. 26 through Jan. 28: • Garmin StreetPilot Onboard North America: $49.99 instead of $59.99 • Garmin StreetPilot Onboard U.S.A.: $39.99 instead of $49.99 • Navigon MobileNavigator North America: $49.99 instead of $59.99 • Navigon MobileNavigator U.S.A.: $39.99 instead of $49.99 • Navigon MyRegion - U.S. West / U.S. Central /U.S. East: $19.99 instead of $29.99 To finish things off, we'd like to share an opportunity with you. On one of their booth displays, Garmin was advertising the "Garmin Navigation App Giveaway." The details are as follows:
Send an email to Macworld@Garmin.com for a chance to win a copy of Garmin's StreetPilot Onboard or NAVIGON app. We will draw five winners every evening of the show. If you're also interested in receiving news about Garmin's app offerings as well as special promotions and offerings, please put "Newsletter" in the subject line of the email. This will also enter the giveaway.Good luck and keep checking back for more Macworld / iWorld 2012 announcements.