Hamburg, Germany – Navigon announced its U.S. navigation
iPhone application is now available on the Apple App Store for a limited
one-time fee of $70, undercutting the cost of most leading personal navigation
devices (PNDs) and offering similar functionality.
Navigon’s app, called MobileNavigator, is the first from a
leading brand to provide maps that reside on the iPhone (onboard) rather than
on a server (off-board), so users need not pay monthly service fees. The app
will carry an introductory price of $69.99 until Aug. 15, and will be priced at
$99.99 thereafter.
The introductory price places Navigon below the price of PNDs
from leading brands TomTom and Garmin.
It also comes in at nearly half the price of other leading iPhone
navigation apps from AT&T and Networks in Motion, which require $10/month
fees that amount to about $120/year.
TomTom today restated its intention to launch
a similar on-board iPhone app this summer, but has not yet stated the price of
the app.
The Navigon app offers turn-by-turn voice directions and
photo-realistic views of road signs. It provides lane guidance, and includes
maps of the full U.S. and Canada. It
permits automatic navigation directly to contacts saved in the iPhone address
book. If the user gets a call on his
iPhone, navigation resumes automatically after the call has ended. Users can also zoom in and out of map
displays using the iPhone’s multi touch interface and can switch between
landscape and portrait mode views
A free “lite” version of the app, called MobileNavigator LITE has
been available since July 10 that shows the user’s position on a map but does
not give turn-by-turn cues. This version
also offers point of interest information and is now ranked as the number 16
downloaded free navigation app on the App Store.
