MSN Direct will shut down in 2012

MICROSOFT HAS ANNOUNCED that it will be shutting down its MSN Direct service.

In a statement on its MSN Direct Support blog, the Vole reveals that the service will end on January 1, 2012. It also promises that Pro-rated refunds for unused portions of existing One-Time Payment and other subscription plans will be automatically credited after that date.

The service basically provides traffic reports, weather information, gas prices, stock quotes and the like to navigation systems via FM subcarrier signals. These navigation systems will still work in 2012, Microsoft assures us, but the Direct service won't.

On its website, Microsoft blamed MSN Direct's inability to keep up with the times as part of its decision to close it down."The delivery of location-based services in the US and Canada has evolved since Microsoft began offering MSN Direct in early 2004," it said.

"Unused FM radio spectrum to broadcast data represented a step forward in 2004, however, many choices today including Wi-Fi, cellular, FM RDS and other digital networks are now readily available and are continuing to grow in popularity."

Navigation by mobile has increased this year, with TomTom announcing a sat-nav app for the Iphone in August and now Google is entering the market and giving away turn-by-turn GPS navigation, with voice guidance, for free in its Google Maps for mobiles software. µ