Filed under: Rumors, Odds and ends, iPhone
Apple working on a GPS unit?
It wouldn't be Sunday on the Mac web without a little wacky rumor to keep us interested. A German magazine by the name of Focus has a brief item today claiming that Apple is working on a GPS unit for cars. The article goes on to say that these units would be available exclusively for Mercedes during their the first 6 months of existence and then spread to other car manufacturers.Will an Apple branded GPS unit be coming to your car in 2009? I'm going to go ahead and say this isn't very likely. It would be more likely that iPhone 2.0 has built in GPS and some sort of car mount. That's a rumor I could get behind (though to be clear I have no inside information about any of this).
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bill said 1:28PM on 6-17-2007
Apple will make a GPS unit that is built-in to cars, along with stero units with built-in iPod, then they'll put them together. Then they'll start making the computers that run your car, then they'll just start aking the whole car and they'll pass Toyota as the world's largest car manufacturer.
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Jon said 1:29PM on 6-17-2007
Maybe instead of GPS, Apple will create its own positioning system that uses cell phone masts and Wi-Fi points to pinpoint your location.
But I can't see this high on the priority list.
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Codey H. said 1:59PM on 6-17-2007
I call BS.. Isn't Apple's best friend in the car industry BMW? Why wouldn't they be first?
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shane said 2:21PM on 6-17-2007
I don't think this is as far-fetched as you're making it sound. But more likely than "apple makes a gps unit for cars" seems something more along the lines of the tight ipod integration that was first available in (I think) BMW vehicles. A GPS/phone unit built into the car which integrates seamlessly via bluetooth with the iPhone. It'd be fantastic. And given that google maps is already very capable of dealing with global positioning data, it's a really short leap.
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Robin O'Neil said 2:34PM on 6-17-2007
When Jobs launched the iPhone and the bluetooth headset, he said that there would be other accessories. A bluetooth gps dongle is not out of the question, perhaps integrated into google maps. There is always the outside chance that Apple may actually improve .mac and enable some sort of gps photo tagging for blogging. AGPS (assisted, by phone mast location) would be ideal, but slightly more complicated, less complicated for Apple with its arrangement with AT&T/Cingular.
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Knudsen said 2:35PM on 6-17-2007
Oh c'mon... Focus is a bloody tabloid. I wouldn't even expect them to tell me if it's day or night...
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DavidG said 2:47PM on 6-17-2007
Everyone has heard of the Apple Lisa, right? Well this is going to be called the Apple Molly (Heroes reference).
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Alphadork said 4:02PM on 6-17-2007
I hear Apple is also working an a new iPod that will toast bagels and fold your laundry for you.
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Michael May said 4:12PM on 6-17-2007
Yeah, my cousin's german penfriend's uncle's barber said that apple are also releasing a range of sportswear, called iSweat.
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Fred said 6:20PM on 6-17-2007
Yeah, this is just more bs. Although the thing that would be funny is if they did make a GPS, and they put the locations of all those landfill Lisas as an easter egg.
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Adam Coates said 6:53AM on 6-18-2007
I think (like No 2) that if (and it is an if) then it will be cell mast triangulation and not GPS. This makes the perfect add-on for google maps and adds huge value when you are looking for local services.
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JeffDM said 9:02PM on 6-18-2007
Jon (#2): I think what you described is part of E911 and I think it is legally required to be part of all new phones in the US for a few years now. Some phones offer the triangulation/location services to phone apps.
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Dan Woods said 7:14PM on 6-23-2007
I think a better Idea would be an iPod Car Radio, with an iPhone as a Detachable Face.
Up until the iPhone, iPods have had a 3x5 aspect ratio with a smallish screen at the top of the unit, with a 4x3 aspect ratio. While an iPod could physically fit within the bounds of a Standard Double-DIN Radio Headunit, The Display would be rotated 90˚, which isn't the best thing for a Radio Headunit, especially if it would have to be designed fro Left and Right-Hand Drive Markets.
For most of it's functions, (well the functions you can use while driving) the iPhone can function in 16x9 aspect ratio equally as well as in 9x16 aspect ratio. The Technology of the Apple FM Radio Remote and a Firmware update would enhance compatibility with such a device, and Using the iPhone as a "Detachable Faceplate" would (allegedly) improve physical security.
If the iPhone form-factor is the direction Apple are taking the iPod, why not design a Car-Radio which can accept an iPhone as a face-plate. iPod adaptors for popular aftermarket headunits are woeful to navigate through at best. Stereo manufacturers need proper guidance from Apple when it comes to IU Design.
As an extra bonus, a GPS module could be unobtrusively integrated with the unit.
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