A couple of days ago we announced we’d be working with Telmap to bring navigation to mobile phones. Here’s why we’re doing it.

Antony Douglas My name’s Antony Douglas and I’m Head of Content at O2. My team and I look at what products, services and features we can put on phones to help make using them better and easier. We were part of the team that brought you Twitter updates by text, for instance.

In just a few years, satellite navigation and Global Positioning Systems have completely changed the way we get from A to B – we generally don’t get lost and go via C, D, E and F any more, for instance. So far the best Sav Navs have been in-car units offering everything from turn-by-turn directions to traffic alerts. We thought – wouldn’t it be great to have all this on your mobile phone? Just imagine, you wouldn’t have to hide it in the glovebox when you park up. And, when you get out of your car, you’d still be able to navigate your way around the place.

Maps and GPS phones have been around for a while now. In fact, there are already more GPS phones out there than dedicated sat-navs. But it’s only recently that things like traffic alerts and directions have started to be included too. We’ve seen a lot of these GPS applications and think that Telmap is one of the best out there – that’s why we’ve made a deal to embed the application in new phones and make it available for customers who already have GPS phones.

We’re not just taking an off-the-shelf application and making it available to our customers though. We’re combining our knowledge of our customers with Telmap’s expertise to create an even better experience with easy billing and customer support.

The application market is growing quickly and getting crowded, making it harder for people to find the best ones out there. By working with the best developers, we’re improving the overall package they offer customers, so expect to see more announcements like this in the future.

Initiatives like this and O2 Litmus show how committed we are at O2 to bringing innovative applications and services to our customers. We hope you like Telmap when it launches later this year and watch this space for details of more exciting applications to come.

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