The commercial that seems to be generating the most buzz is called Calamari, and features Google Maps. It appears as though the phone knows it's own location, and supplies that information to Google Maps. Google returned a "local" Map, followed by directions to a nearby resturant. How is this possible? There are a number of ways this can be accomplished. I'd like to speculate on the most profound.
AT&T already knows where your phone is...
more or less. A significant portion of cell phone technology is devoted to cell phone tracking. The E-911 mandate requires it. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) utilized by AT&T provides several methods. That's geek talk. Bottom line, GPS is NOT required.
Because Apple and AT&T collaborated on the design of the iPhone, it would be trivial for AT&T to provide this information to the iPhone upon request. Because Google designed a custom Map application for the iPhone, it could be designed to use this information. Because this is the way Apple thinks about design, this should not be a surprise. I expect even more.
I've already predicted that Apple and AT&T will reinvent Cellular. Purely Speculational.
Caveat lector
Cell phone tracking is not 1 meter accurate, yet; I don't know how far along AT&T is in implementing Phase II of E-911; and the Google provided directions are not visible in the Calamari iPhone ad. There is still room for more speculation.
No sources have been bribed to provide the speculations in this blog.
|