Wasn't the reason behind declassifying the use of GPS satellites to give the people free use of a far-less accurate (as compared to the military's use) but still usable guidance platform?
It seems to me that this will create a surge in open-source GPS hardware and take sales away from Nokia and other fee-based receivers. Not that I'm complaining, GPS is kinda easy to work with and I don't like recurring expenses. =]
You're paying something of a subscription anyway to use your GPS navigation system already - if you want the maps to be up to date, you'll have to spend money yearly to keep it that way, plus the couple of hours or so to update the device. I'm OK paying a GPS subscription once a year that's the same price as the annual map update so long as this includes traffic service and over the air map updates. That's pretty much Dash's model, seems to be where AT&T is heading too. At some point, phones and GPS nav systems will be merged; we're on that path now.
Consumer electronics companies are figuring out that the key to longevity at this stage in our economic development is the sale of subscription-based services, not commodities. This trend isn't going away, but maybe it's not such a bad thing either.
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This kind of bothers me because one of the things that Nokia does now is charge monthly (or annual) fees for routing on their phones.
Garmin's never done this & looks to be following the same model for their upcoming phones.
I believe the days of cheap, subscription-less GPS are nearing an end.
Are you kidding me? Subscription based GPS?
Wasn't the reason behind declassifying the use of GPS satellites to give the people free use of a far-less accurate (as compared to the military's use) but still usable guidance platform?
It seems to me that this will create a surge in open-source GPS hardware and take sales away from Nokia and other fee-based receivers. Not that I'm complaining, GPS is kinda easy to work with and I don't like recurring expenses. =]
You're paying something of a subscription anyway to use your GPS navigation system already - if you want the maps to be up to date, you'll have to spend money yearly to keep it that way, plus the couple of hours or so to update the device. I'm OK paying a GPS subscription once a year that's the same price as the annual map update so long as this includes traffic service and over the air map updates. That's pretty much Dash's model, seems to be where AT&T is heading too. At some point, phones and GPS nav systems will be merged; we're on that path now.
Consumer electronics companies are figuring out that the key to longevity at this stage in our economic development is the sale of subscription-based services, not commodities. This trend isn't going away, but maybe it's not such a bad thing either.