Motorola Unveils Location-Based Services
Software for Wireless, Enterprise
BusinessesConsumers can easily
access maps and turn-by-turn directions on wireless devices via one of
Motorola’s first location-based software
applicationsSCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS, January
23 2003¾ Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced
today that it is offering wireless carriers, auto manufacturers and other
enterprises location-based services software that will deliver relevant, easily
accessible information to consumers while they are mobile. Information
delivered through the “ViaMoto” software can be customized depending
on a consumer’s personal preference, will be available in virtually any
environment and will be available on a variety of wireless phones or other
devices.
The first
two tiers of software offered in the ViaMoto package, GoViaMoto and FindViaMoto,
are currently available and are undergoing customer trials with Motorola
GPS-enabled cell phones in North America. Consumers can easily interact with
ViaMoto applications through human operators (similar to directory assistance),
voice recognition, keypad entry, or websites.
Easy-to-use location applications like those
provided by ViaMoto are expected to be useful, and appealing, to most mobile
users. Driscoll-Wolfe’s 2002 Wireless Location-Based Services Marketing
Research Study states that nearly half of all cell phone users are interested in
receiving directions to their destination on their handsets. That same study
showed that a third of all mobile phone users would agree to pay $5 per month
for unlimited navigation assistance on their
phones.
“Each of Motorola’s
customers has a varying level of requirements in their location-based services
strategy,” said Neal Campbell, general manager of location services for
Motorola’s Personal Communications Sector. “Motorola has designed a
software stack that enables us to work with each of our customers to tailor and
deploy varying degrees of location-based services technology to support their
voice and data needs, and the needs of
consumers.”
Motorola’s GoViaMoto
solution is a dynamic software package that transforms a wireless phone, and
other wireless devices, into "navigators" that deliver textual or audible route
guidance prompts to users. More practical than viewing a foldout map, the
software enables consumers to receive spoken turn-by-turn directions through
their cell phones. GoViaMoto literally “talks you through”
directions to a destination, speaking street names and maneuvers along the way.
Motorola’s ViaMoto server is continuously updated with map data and is
integrated with traffic conditions and point-of-interest databases to provide
users with the most accurate and up-to-date navigation services possible.
Motorola’s FindViaMoto solution is a
local information guide similar to a community events weekly newspaper or
phonebook, and adds an extra level of location technology. The software ties
together with GoViaMoto and provides point-of-interest lookup, mapping, and
up-to-date traffic information specific to the user’s route.
Another of Motorola’s software products,
the Motorola Navigation Application, is available as a component of
Trafficmaster Plc's Smartnav in-vehicle navigation system in the
U.K.
Motorola, Inc (NYSE:MOT) is a global
leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions.
Sales in 2001 were $30 billion. For more information, please visit:
www.motorola.com.
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Contact:David
Rudd
Director, Communications and Public
Affairs
Personal Communications
Sector
Motorola
+1-847-523-4714
david.rudd@motorola.com MOTOROLA
and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.
All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.
© Motorola, Inc. 2003.