Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon
Subscription based software can be very profitable, but again, there is starting to become market saturation because so many other BlackBerry users (like me) refuse to pay for subscription software. I think they can make MUCH more money if they offered a $100 software package that includes North American maps on a 2GB MicroSD card. This won't cannibalize the subscription market, but gain new users like me. Sign me up - I'd pay. At the moment, I refuse to pay for subscriber services and will get a TomTom or Nuvi device, unless I can turn my BlackBerry into the equivalent of an offline TomTom or Nuvi that I happen to carry all the time. You can bet that the profit margin is probably bigger on the software package, due to device manufacture costs especially with the massive price drops on standalone GPS units lately.
|
(PS Mark - I cannot quote the beginning of a sentence or paragraph with the word 'because' - thats the only thing I remembered of english classes, besides punctuation, hehe).
I'm in TOTAL agreement! I thought I was alone!
Not All providers allow for true unlimited data. I think we'll begin to see corporations cut back on wireless account spending. Most business users here in Canada would rather use that $65/mth on Rogers Wireless (on top of voice calls) allotment for 1GB of data cap for MDS Corporate application usuage; rather than GPS data and such for mapping.
In no way do I blame company's of current charge monthly fee for GPS data - in a cloud-based service (its a service not a product in my mind). However, we're beginning to see more and more applications that have been designed to NEED a data connection to give current information; even if it isn't realtime. For example weather applications - having to update every 5mins > 1hr. Do I really need to see how the weather is going to change in the same city, in increments of 5-10 degrees celcius? How often does anyone need to see the same days' weather report - weather is pretty accurate day to day EVEN if a snow storm is on-route; rarely does it drastically change direction where you'd need to be informed every hour.
Personally, I'd like to have a GPS mapping application on a BlackBerry that allows me to download my countries maps & save directly to the MicroSD card for local information retrieval. I'd pay $100CAN up front. Heck I'd pay $30CAN up front for just having Ontario's local maps. Allow me to use $10/mth subscription for Turn by Turn visual/voice guided navigation with traffic jam avoidance. This could drastically change business.
I believe the source of maps shouldn't be too hard to find, its coding to use off the MicroSD card in a timely fashion and not consume RAM on the BB HH.