http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/12/17/top-telenav-searches/ Russell Buckley and Carlo Longino on mobile technology. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:56:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/12/17/top-telenav-searches/comment-page-1/#comment-118042 Patrick Lord Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:21:30 +0000 http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/12/17/top-telenav-searches/#comment-118042 From what I understand the TeleNav mobile app, which costs 9.99USD a month, is focused on giving driving directions, so most people who are prepared to pay for this will be drivers, not pedestrians, and they’re not always going to be in the neighborhood of their home or work. I can imagine plenty of circumstances where a driver is in an unfamiliar area and decides he needs to go to a certain store or alternatively knows where the store is but not the quickest way to get there from his current location. This type of application opens up new opportunities for the user. For example someone may normally go to the store they know near their home but now they are able to search for the one near their work and go to that one on the way home instead. I agree that tourists and business travellers tend to have the greatest need to find certain things locally (not a DIY store that’s for sure!), however there are plenty of substitute services such as the hotel concierge, the tourist guide they brought with them, the free map from the tourist office or hotel with all the Starbucks already marked on them, etc and these come with advice and recommendations as part of the package, so I don't see tourists and travellers turning in their droves to mobile local search as a replacement – especially if they’re on roaming charges. From what I understand the TeleNav mobile app, which costs 9.99USD a month, is focused on giving driving directions, so most people who are prepared to pay for this will be drivers, not pedestrians, and they’re not always going to be in the neighborhood of their home or work. I can imagine plenty of circumstances where a driver is in an unfamiliar area and decides he needs to go to a certain store or alternatively knows where the store is but not the quickest way to get there from his current location. This type of application opens up new opportunities for the user. For example someone may normally go to the store they know near their home but now they are able to search for the one near their work and go to that one on the way home instead.
I agree that tourists and business travellers tend to have the greatest need to find certain things locally (not a DIY store that’s for sure!), however there are plenty of substitute services such as the hotel concierge, the tourist guide they brought with them, the free map from the tourist office or hotel with all the Starbucks already marked on them, etc and these come with advice and recommendations as part of the package, so I don’t see tourists and travellers turning in their droves to mobile local search as a replacement – especially if they’re on roaming charges.

]]>