Filed under: iPhone
Navizon offers iPhone refunds
Peer-to-peer wireless positioning firm Navizon is offering refunds to customers who signed up for its $24.95 iPhone service. Now that Apple has put the kibosh on third party development, the company's software no longer works on the iPhone. According to the NY Times, the company did well despite the loss of iPhone sales. Its short-lived iPhone prominence led to over seventy thousand downloads for other phone models.
The Navizon "Shareloc's blog" has updated and clarified their position, stating that iPhone development will continue. To conclude otherwise, they write, is "plain false and quite frankly, a bit laughable". Refunds are offered only to those iPhone users who have upgraded to 1.1.1.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
punkassjim said 3:21PM on 10-01-2007
Then they might want to edit their banner ads.
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DrunkDwarf said 3:51PM on 10-01-2007
Thanks again Erica. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll sue you for the refunds?
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db cooper said 3:54PM on 10-01-2007
iPhone firmware 1.0.2: Your iPhone is a robust mobile computing platform with unlimited potential and a growing library of apps developed by an army of third party programmers. Look forward to incredibly enhanced functionality in the future.
iPhone firmware 1.1.1: Your iPhone is an enhanced touchscreen iPod with phone, email and calendar function. Oh, and mobile iTunes store. Look forward to someday being able to BCC: in email and possibly use Safari for more than ten minutes without being thrown back to the home screen.
Perhaps the default mail signature in 1.1.1 should read: "Sent from Steve Jobs' iPhone."
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badweasel said 4:11PM on 10-01-2007
I don't understand. I installed the iphone app and it just worked.. (sortof) What's this about the pay service?
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badweasel said 4:22PM on 10-01-2007
Followed the links above and answered my own question. I guess I've been on a 15 day free trial of the software.
It didn't work too well anyway. I think of the 3 or 4 locations where I've run it, about 50% of the time it was unable to locate me. Once it said that I was in the middle of the Nevada desert. As a free app it would be worth keeping around, but as a pay service I'd say not worth the 25 bucks.
Kudos to the company for refunding. There's an example of a company doing the right thing for a change.
Also.. BTW.. can we stop using the term "hackers" and change it up to something like "unauthorized developers"? Hackers implies a malicious intent, which might be applicable to unlocking, but certainly isn't applicable to those wanting to load software on a personal computer.
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Edward said 4:52PM on 10-01-2007
Is it just me, but did anyone get this "Navizon" app, even working. Every time I try it (as I didn't update the firmware) I still get the error message that it can't fine the nodes. The nodes. The nodes.
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Bill said 5:01PM on 10-01-2007
@Edward, did you setup a login? and did you set your coverage area up on the account management on Navizon website?
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Jonathan said 5:27PM on 10-01-2007
mmm, still works on my 1.0.2...
great app... just went to vegas from L.A. and I tried it on the road... pretty accurate even on the move...
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Edward said 5:52PM on 10-01-2007
Hey Bill ...
I have done both and am still getting nothing. Seems like it'd be great software, but obviously riddled with bugs.
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S said 7:34PM on 10-01-2007
Okay, db cooper, I'll bite. Wanna find me the Apple website that promised third-party development or called the iPhone a "platform"? You can have my unhacked 8GB iPhone if you find one.
And badweasel, hacking doesn't imply "bad," it denotes someone who breaks someone else's code to do something they weren't previously allowed to do. That's an accurate description of what was being done with the iPhone, no matter what your opinion on the matter. The iPhone is not a personal computer, it is a mobile phone. An appliance. A device. If you don't want to break your hacks, don't update your phone. It's a simple choice.
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Reg said 8:39PM on 10-01-2007
@S, I think we're playing into SJ's hands - fighting amongst ourselves is what he wanted.
Actually, though, Apple did indeed promise an SDK, and claims to have delivered it. If you watch the WWDC keynote, you'll hear the phrase "iPhone SDK" talked about for a good 20 mins.
Except, Apple's idea of an iPhone SDK is... (dramatic chord)... web pages.
So, if Navizon can work out how to global position with JavaScript, running at 1/600th the speed of native code, then the SDK is just fine.
@db cooper,
Totally agree.
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David Chartier said 10:12PM on 10-01-2007
It's an absolute riot that a company launched a commercial product for a platform that is being actively locked down by its manufacturer until they're prepared to allow legitimate 3rd party development.
Hasn't anyone in the hacker and "omg gimme mah 3rd party apps nowz!" corners of the web heard of patience? Y'know, like the Guns 'n Roses song?
Just chill out. Wait for the iPhone to get opened up. If you don't want to own one without 3rd party apps, then don't. Life will continue, believe it or not.
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Sam Weiss said 10:27PM on 10-01-2007
@DrunkDwarf
I'm not sure why/how you are blaming Erica. Because she hacked the iphone? That's an amazing feat. I'm not sure how all that computes.
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Alix said 10:29PM on 10-01-2007
I do not know where you guys have this completely untrue and false information. Please before posting this like this get a hold of someone in the company.
Navizon gave some refunds for people who ran the firmware update and could not use anymore the software that's all.
Navizon continues to develop and gives support for the Iphone.
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Cyril said 10:49PM on 10-01-2007
We just published a response to this (inaccurate) article on the Navizon blog.
http://navizon.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/10/navizon-for-iph.html
Anyone who cannot use the service is entitled to a refund. But the development of Navizon for iPhone is alive and well and a new version with many new features is scheduled for release very soon.
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roz said 12:41PM on 10-02-2007
Fault them if you wnat but for any other device, developing innovative solutions that integrate with the device would be considered a GOOD thing. Its just in this backwards, screwed up scenario that they are being stopped for doing this sort of work. Not a good example for iPhone as a platform. Generally you want to support and aide developers, not shut down their businesses.
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Narisatu said 2:30AM on 10-14-2007
@ David Charter
Some of us like hacking hardware that has limits to make it do what we want to. We take a product we like, and if it is missing something, instead of tossing it, and trying to find something else that does what we want it to, we make it do what we want it to.
I love the iPhone, it does piss me off that the 1.1.1 update breaks the hacks, but that will be remedied soon. The only patience that people like us need, is to wait for someone, or ourselves, to make a workable way to get into the new version.
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