Telmap and Bluesky announce a deal

GEOLOCATION FIRMS Telmap and BlueSky Positioning have announced a joint deal to bring real-time search, mapping and navigation to mobile phones.

The two companies have been working in tandem to create the A-GPS SIM. Telmap added its mobile location know-how to Bluesky Positioning's A-GPS technology to incorporate navigation onto mobile phones that lack integral GPS capabilities.

Both firms claim the A-GPS technology, which is embedded into a mobile's SIM, when combined with search mapping functionality will give punters a set of mobile experiences they didn't have before. These include in-car navigation with 3D moving maps, multi-lingual text-to-speech and traffic and speed camera information so you can drive hell for leather without getting caught.

Ronen Soffer, chief technical officer at Telmap, said, "In utilising BlueSky's innovation, Telmap can introduce its LBS and Navigation solution to a larger addressable market, which now includes new consumer segments and a multitude of mid-range mobile phones. This helps further realising Telmap's strategy of mass market reach for its services, while boosting Operators' business case as well as control over distribution and customer ownership of such services."

"The collaboration with market leader Telmap strengthens the confidence in our A-GPS technology for SIM cards, and proves that GPS is not only suitable for high-end phones, but can be made available to all consumer segments with both basic and enhanced phones," said Velipekka Kuoppala, vice president of sales and Marketing at BlueSky Positioning. µ