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Map and location services have long been regarded as a natural fit for mobile phones, and the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona in February showed that handset makers are rushing to fill the void, while both Yahoo! and Google are configuring their mapping services for mobile products. Yahoo! launched a new product, OneConnect, with features that include telling you yow far away your friends are, while Google has secured partnerships with Vodafone, T-Mobile, and the Apple iPhone. On the handset side, Nokia intends to include GPS in all of its new high-end N-series smartphones. As the use of mobile mapping technology spreads, firms are also working to overcome some current limitations that make GPS less reliable indoors, in tunnels, or in urban settings where signals are distorted by bouncing off buildings. Both Broadcom and CSR are developing systems that triangulate from mobile base stations to supplement GPS in these environments. The growing incorporation of mapping in phones poses a challenge to makers of personal navigation devices, and one navigation-device firm, Garmin, is hitting back by developing the Nuvifone. Marketers of navigation services are hoping to draw income not only from subscription to their services, but by selling location-based advertising; for example, a restaurant could advertise to passers-by. Some observers caution, however, that privacy concerns may make development of an ad-based revenue model a gradual process.
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