GPS/Cell phone patent issue

[joerg]

> > The maps ARE "on board" for all common GPS car navis ("really big"
> > 256MB-flash card e.g.).
>
> In *cars*, not phones. 
btw: there have been on-board(!) navi solutions for phones(!) even before 
iPhone hit the market.

> This is the *Openmoko* list. We're talking 
> *phones* here. 
Sure bout that?

> I don't think any phones are going to come with 
> navigation data built in. 
Good point. In fact you have to buy the software separately. see TomTom e.g.

> For example Blackberrys have GPS but do not 
> have the maps built in. That data comes from the network. Same with
> the new iPhone functionality, which uses Google Maps. 
So what?

> And I presume no 
> Openmoko phones are going to ship with location data. 
I hope so! I'm not eager to pay for data i might never use. But OM/GTA ships 
with card-slot for data cards.
OTOH i'm sure GTA never will ship with a software that inevitably is sending 
my GPS data to any outside database. What means this "patent" to OM/me than??
This is the *Openmoko* list. We're talking GTA here, not business models of 
service providers like google-maps. Will my GTA break, when google gets 
involved in a lawsuit about some patent?

> Your personal
> feelings about how location data should be used don't really map to
> the way most expect to use phone + gps technology.
Now you're absolutely sure here?


j