Cellphone GPS Hits New Peak

by Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 6/2/2008

Aliso Viejo, Calif. — Networks In Motion (NIM) said that the day before Mother’s Day, May 10, saw the largest spike in use of navigation on mobile phones in history, with close to 5 million navigation requests.

“Frequent usage on a weekend such as Mother’s Day proves our services are becoming ingrained in people’s lifestyle,” said NIM president and CEO Doug Antone. During the holiday, people requested not only directions but information on local florists and restaurants.

NIM claimed it is the leading provider of navigation services to the top four cellular carriers. It said it has a 57 percent share of U.S. revenue from navigation services offered to cellphone users.

The company responds to searches for points of interest, a navigation route, downloading a map or sending a friend a place message. Navigation information resides on NIM’s servers, rather than in the user’s cellphone.

Early in 2007 the company had less than a million paid users and it now has more than 3 million, it said. In May it reached the milestone of more than 100 million monthly navigation requests.

NIM delivers turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions with auto-rerouting if a turn is missed. It has a base of nearly 14 million points of interest. Users see color maps on their cellphone screen, which can be panned and zoomed.

A typical subscription fee is $9.99/month or $2.99/day.