TiPb loves answering your emails, but we also love sharing our answers with the community in hopes that more people will benefit, and even better answers will present themselves (hey, that’s why we have them forums!). Today’s question comes from Chris:

“Why doesn’t the iPhone have real GPS?! Even the [redacted] Samsung Instinct has turn by turn! Why does Apple add [redacted] like street view [but] not the things users really want?”

TiPb answers after the break!

We’ve covered iPhone GPS and turn-by-turn navigation quite a bit here at TiPb, especially Dieter who lives out in the middle of somewhere and claims he needs it quite a bit. Why wouldn’t Apple add it indeed? Should be a no-brainer, right?

Well, here’s a few things:

1. Apple doesn’t really supply the GPS middlewhere on the iPhone. They have the chip, of course, and they made the UI (Steve’s even boasted about it on stage!), but the App itself is “powered” by Google Maps. So, the functionality of the App is in some ways limited to the functionality provided by Google. For example, we’re seeing street-view, transit, and walking directions in iPhone 2.2 Beta 2. Why? Because Google has been rolling that out across smartphone platforms, starting with Android. Do any devices have Google-powered tun-by-turn yet? Not to our knowledge. And there may be a reason for that…
2. Licensing conflicts. Google doesn’t own the maps they serve. They license them from Tele Atlas and Navteq. Dieter pointed out a while back that Google’s “API only provides Tele Atlas data, it appears that it’s prohibited from serving Navteq data. As early as ‘05 there has been speculation that there was some sort of license fight between Google and Navteq and both sides decided to take their ball and go home.” This looks like a pretty complicated and potentially deal-breaking deadlock (read the whole article for more). And it’s not the only legal problem…
3. Apple’s iPhone SDK agreement currently prohibits 3rd party turn-by-turn Apps. This could be to avoid the licensing issues mentioned previously, to leave the door open for an “officially licensed” version if Apple and Google can come to an agreement with the licensors (who may not want to see a competitive convergent device like the iPhone get that functionality), or because Apple feels they’ll be sued by the first brainiac who tries to switch between turn-by-turn and SMS and back while driving into a lake.
4. Why can’t TomTom or another dedicated GPS manufacturer release an iPhone App directly, using their own Apps? After all, TomTom has already said they’ve made their system run on the iPhone. The App Store has a reported 2GB size limit, so there’s likely space enough for a robust install. Despite the SDK licensing restrictions, however, would a company like TomTom feel iPhone App sales would make up for the loss of dedicated hardware unit sales they’d face? There have been stories about the dedicated GPS players fearing the iPhone (and other convergence devices) would put them out of business. Let’s remember when Popular Mechanics asked the president of a GPS navigation system manufacturer how he felt about the prospect of a GPS-enabled iPhone, the president said he was: “Scared [expletive]-less“.
5. Could all of the above issues be at play? Apple’s head of iPhone Marketing, Greg “Joz” Joswiak, previously said: “there are some murky “complicated issues” preventing driving directions apps at the moment. ‘It will evolve. I think our developers will amaze us.’ “

When Rene gave us a As the Turn-By-Turn Turns update yesterday, we got a very smart comment from somebody calling him/herself GoogleLicense:

TiPB ought to do some research on the why’s behind this and break the story since the iphone press seems to love reporting this topic.
It might be something like this: Apple licenses significant parts of their map stuff from Google. Google licenses significant parts of their map stuff from several other vendors. Each license has certain restrictions.
If you dig around in the bowels of Google’s developer site looking for info on required copyrights and license restrictions when using embeddable maps, you can get a lot of details of what is and isn’t allowed for what sets of data and who the original source is that is putting those restrictions…

Indeed, we know a good idea when we see it. After the break, a short history of map providers, their licenses, and why it seems like waiting for Turn-by-Turn directions within Google Maps on the iPhone isn’t a great idea.

Read on!

There are two major players in the map-providing business, Navteq and Tele Atlas. Navteq has been purchased by Nokia and TomTom wanted to buy Tele Atlas (and then they did).

Clear so far? It gets better. Let’s start with Navteq map data

Navteq Map Data

Google Maps comes to us in two ways: directly via http://maps.google.com and via free APIs. Anybody is free to use the APIs to provide map locations (hence the many awesome Google Maps mashups out there) and it’s a safe bet that Google Maps on the iPhone uses them too. Now, the web version of Google Maps mostly uses Navteq but may use a little Tele Atlas as well.

However, the API only provides Tele Atlas data, it appears that it’s prohibited from serving Navteq data. As early as ’05 there has been speculation that there was some sort of license fight between Google and Navteq and both sides decided to take their ball and go home. In the previously linked article, Nat Torkington wonders whether the sticking point is the “free” part in Google’s free map API.

Seems likely to me. Google Maps on the iPhone is probably analogous to Mobile Safari on the iPhone, namely: it gets way more usage than comparable software on other platforms. That means there’s too much potential profit for Navteq to let their data get served for free and, of course, those potentially astronomic costs are just the thing that keep either Apple or Google (or both) from budging.

Navteq map data is served up in other applications (like my personal Windows Mobile fave: Live Search) with turn-by-turn directions, so we’re not looking at a technical issue here. I don’t know for sure if what what Microsoft is paying Navteq for this map data, but given the relatively few installs of Live Search (but growing — the software is available on several platforms now, including Symbian and BlackBerry), it’s probably on a different order of magnitude than Google Maps on the iPhone.

Oh, and Navteq is now owned by Nokia, who probably isn’t too keen on seeing their biggest threat pick up any more killer features.

So fine, Navteq data + Turn-by-Turn within Google Maps looks like a non-starter. What about Tele Atlas Data?

Tele Atlas Map data

Tele Atlas data is certainly capable of creating turn-by-turn directions too — the thing powers TomTom maps, after all. The story here is likely (and thankfully) less complicated. TomTom owns Tele Atlas, and Tele Atlas is the only viable option for realtime Turn-by-Turn directions within Google Maps. Google Maps is free, TomTom is in the business of selling map software. (Google Maps is sticking with Tele Atlas for the next five years, too, in case you were wondering.)

TomTom wants to sell software on the iPhone, so why on earth would they allow their maps to be used in an on-deck, free piece of software in a way that would keep 95% of their potential customers from buying TomTom?

What Now?

We have “Turn-by-Turn-esque” functionality inside Google Maps now, but it’s not anywhere near the level of functionality we need for realtime Turn-by-Turn as you drive. Given that both map providers are owned by companies with vested interests in keeping the iPhone’s Google Maps app from having realtime Turn-by-Turn, it’s not a situation I expect to see changed anytime soon.

Unless Apple, Google, TomTom/Tele Atlas, and Nokia/NavTeq all sit down and have a nice long chat about APIs, licensing uses, and fees, that is. That’s three companies in the business of making competing smartphones, two companies in the business of making competing maps, and, well, a scheduling nightmare to boot. It’s certainly possible, but I’m not holding my breath.

So now our hopes for realtime Turn-by-Turn rest on 3rd party software now. Except that the iPhone developer SDK disallows that too:

Applications may not be designed or marketed for real time route guidance; automatic or autonomous control of vehicles or aircraft, or other mechanical devices; dispatch or fleet management; or emergency or life-saving purposes.

We’re just going to put some blinders on and assume that Apple will let somebody get around that clause.

Tele Atlas the best chance of getting their maps on the iPhone for Turn-by-Turn in a 3rd party app, however. They already provide map data for TomTom, Google Maps (via the API), TeleNav (and the many carrier-branded versions on other smartphones), and BlackBerry Maps. There’s a skill set there that seem able to leverage. Plus, they’re not owned by Nokia.

Here’s my best guess at what could happen.

1. Apple allows TomTom to go ahead and sell their software via the App Store. (Tele Atlas-based)
2. TeleNav creates and provides their subscription-based map software. (Tele Atlas-based)
3. I’ll toss in one very long shot: Microsoft decides to pony up the license fees to Navteq for Live Search (or something similar) on the iPhone. (Navteq-based)

So tell us: Can the four-way mapping negotiations happen? If not, which of those three options do you want? Is there another turn-by-turn turnabout that I missed?