Since When Does A GPS Include A Mobile Phone?

While I was fairly silent here on the introduction of a certain phone by a certain company based in Cupertino, California, I will comment on the news that a certain GPS manufacturer is incorporating mobile phone functionality into their GPS units. The end result: the nüvifone, which initiallysome compared to that other phone.

There are still lots of unanswered questions about this device. For the purposes of this discussion, my main question is: where will the device be sold? Will it be sold along side conventional GPSes with an unlocked GSM radio, or will it be sold with the mobile phones? Maybe both?

No matter how it’s sold, I view it as validation of Nokia’s strategy to build GPS functionality into mobile phones. A strategy taken a step further by the introduction of four different GPS-enabled phones at Mobile World Congress and the introduction of Nokia Maps 2.0.

A connected GPS is more valuable than one that is not. A GPS that is with you is more valuable than one that might only be in the car. By giving the GPS a connection to the mobile network (and WiFi), you now have the ability to augment it with real time information, such as traffic data, road closures, or even newer maps.

That’s just the stuff we can think of today. Put a GPS into a device with an open platform like S60, and who knows what we’ll end up with in the not-to-distant future.