Gokivo subscription navigation for the iPhone

Yesterday hot on the heels of the iPhone OS 3.0 roll out was the introduction to the AppStore of a number of OS 3.0 specific applications. One of the first of these is Gokivo from Networks In Motion in the US AppStore.

The main points of interest in this app are: Turn by Turn Navigation, and a subscription pricing model.

Turn by Turn voice navigation has been banned by Apple up until the release of OS 3.0 when we heard from a number of the mainstream navigation brands saying they would have an app for the iPhone.  Well Networks in Motion seem to have the first one.

With the subscription pricing it costs $0.99 to buy which is quite reasonable, but then to actually use it you need to pay $9.99 a month. Not good if you want to use it every day, but not too bad if you are going on vacation and want it for a couple of weeks.

Networks In Motion is a well respected provider of Navigation solutions, particularly on mobile phones in the USA where they power the Verizon VZNavigator and a number of other white label navigation applications.

With integrated contact navigation and live traffic services this looks like an excellent start to navigation on the iPhone.  There are a few things that need to be found out about how the app works, are the maps downloaded or delivered over the air…   More details will follow.

The Networks in Motion press release follows:

Networks In Motion Launches Gokivo Navigation Application On Apple App Store

Turn-by-Turn Navigation and Hyper-local Information for iPhone

Aliso Viejo, CA., June 17, 2009

Networks In Motion (NIM), the award-winning global wireless navigation, hyper-local search and location-based services (LBS) company, today announced its Gokivo application is available on the App Store. Gokivo is powered by Yahoo! Local and will pair NIM’s carrier class turn-by-turn navigation platform with the robust Yahoo! Local search and content capabilities.

Gokivo for iPhone allows people to easily find their location, take advantage of one-touch access to Yahoo! Local searches, ratings and reviews, and get to where they want to go with turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation. The application is seamlessly integrated with the iPhone’s innovative Multi-Touch user interface, allowing users to easily map and navigate to addresses in their contacts, and even save and share searches and favorites with friends.

“Gokivo gives iPhone users an application that truly takes advantage of the device’s GPS and data capabilities to let them get where they want to go and find what they’re looking for,” said Doug Antone, President and CEO of Networks In Motion. “With Networks In Motion’s navigation and LBS expertise and the power of Yahoo! Local search results, we’ve developed a groundbreaking iPhone app that delivers a powerful and rich navigation experience on one of the world’s most popular mobile devices.”

Gokivo features include:

• Robust hyper-local search and discovery powered by Yahoo! Local. One-click searches for bars, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs and many more local points of interest
• Access to the most robust real-time traffic notification on mobile devices, giving users plenty of advance notice to avoid traffic snarls and road work slow downs
• Syncing with Bluetooth in the car or via headset, providing output for music and turn-by-turn navigation audio prompts
• An embedded iPod control, which allows you to listen to music while you are navigating with Gokivo – the music automatically fades (or pauses, if changed in settings) for voice prompts
• The ability to simply “shake” the iPhone to immediately receive alternate route suggestions when encountering things such as traffic congestion
• Find address information directly from any contact in the iPhone and get immediate one-click navigation to the specific address

Gokivo is available for just.$0.99 from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at itunes.apple.com/…

Full navigation functionality can be purchased for $9.99 per month via subscription.