TeleNav: GPS helped guys get out of the Valentine's Day doghouse
TeleNav is known for its phone-based GPS navigation products, particular the AT&T Navigator app for iPhone. The company has over 11 million subscribers to its services, so it has a lot of data to sift through to find interesting location search trends.
That data showed that GPS location searches helped a lot of guys keep from getting in deep trouble with their significant others in the period surrounding Valentine's Day. Mark Burfeind of TeleNav tells us that they put together all the florist and flower-related GPS searches in their products around Valentine's Day, over 11 million users total, and "found that GPS may have come to the rescue for last minute shoppers." Among the interesting finds:
During Valentine's Week (Feb. 8 – 14), searches for flowers increased more than 5.5 times over the previous, non-holiday week of Feb. 1 - 7.
In fact, searches on Valentine's Day alone outnumbered searches for the entire week of Feb. 1-7.
It looks like GPS may have helped some people get out of the "doghouse" following Valentine's Day. Searches for flowers by TeleNav's users the Monday following Valentine's Day were twice as high as those on an average Monday.
How about you, TUAW reader? Did you use your favorite iPhone navigation app to find flowers, candy, or an available restaurant reservation for Valentine's Day? Leave us a comment and let us know if your iPhone's GPS saved the day.
