According to Wired mag, the probability we’ll see the unveiling of a GPS-enabled 3G iPhone tomorrow has PND makers such as Garmin “scared shitless”. As they should be. It only makes sense the navigation’s migration to the mobile phone will be more economical for end users. Why buy a GPS unit when your cell phone, which you’ll probably have anyway, can do all the same navigational functions? Just this Mother’s Day, or more accurately the day before, Networks In Motion saw the highest usage of cellphone GPS requests ever. A full 5 million, absolutely huge. Nokia expects to sell 35 million GPS-enabled mobile phones this year, and by 2012 says that 50% of their phones will contain GPS chips. Are these early indicators that portable navigation devices will be dead and gone in the near future? With the 2nd generation iPhone’s expected popularity and rumors that it’ll cost a whole lot less than its predecessor, tomorrow may just be life cycle apex of the portable navigation device.
