Nokia launched a service on Thursday which it said would cut the time a GPS-enabled cellphone takes to pinpoint its whreabouts, opening new opportunities for location-based online services.

Nokia hopes the service, available for users of its flagship N95 phones, will cut the startup time to one minute, from up to three minutes currently. The slowness has so far hampered takeup of cellphone navigation.

"It will be reliably under one minute in most countries," Ralph Eric Kunz, head of Nokia's navigation and mapping operations said in an interview.

Handset makers see GPS-based navigation as one of the next big value-adding offerings and even at this early stage.

Analysis firm Berg Insight has forecast annual shipments of handset-based personal navigation devices in Europe and the United States to reach 12 million units by 2009, compared with 1 million in 2005.

While most assisted-GPS technologies use mobile carrier’s cellsites to find locations faster, Nokia's new service bypasses operator networks, using data from SIM card and new software which helps the phone to catch satellite signals.

GPS chips use satellites orbiting the earth to determine the exact position of the user. They are found in car navigation systems, which have surged in popularity in recent years, and the technology is now making the jump to mobile phones.

Nokia's N95, with a 700-euro price tag, is not within reach of the wider market, but the Finnish firm aims to bring GPS chips to a wide array of its phones. All Nokia's GPS phones will have the new service, Kunz said.

Nokia hopes the service will boost prices of its phones in the longer term, and increase the appeal of mobile search services.

Nokia bought into the navigation industry last year through its acquisition of German firm Gate5 and started to offer free maps and routing data in February 2007, while charging extra fees for navigation.

While a few years ago personal navigation device makers like Dutch TomTom shrugged off possible rivalry from the handset industry, they have now acknowledged the potential risk to their business.

Courtesy : Expresssindia.com

Pottermania has taken hold of the state a day before the latest and presumably the last in the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows”, releases worldwide on Saturday.

Bookstores in all major cities across the state are gearing up for the large number of children who will wait outside the stores, in anticipation of the seventh book, which is to hit the stands at 5.30 am on Saturday. Many of the stores have come up with innovative incentives for customers including discounts and freebies.

“Neither I nor my children can wait for the release. We have planned to be at the bookstore at 5.30 am to pick up the book. My children won’t let me sleep otherwise,” said Joyti. She added that she had booked her copy two weeks in advance.

Another Potter fan, Anupam Chakravarthy, plans to go a little slow. “I have booked my copy, so I will go a little late. But I plan to have the book with me before noon,” he said.

Manoj Misra, from Landmark bookstore in Vadodara, said that the book was to be released worldwide at the same time, which was why the stores would open at 5.30 am. “The release here will synchronise with London release. The idea is to prevent any text leakage,” Misra said.

He added that the books would arrive in Vadodara around 5 am with a protective casing and a personal guard detachment.

Vadodara’s two large bookstores — Crossword and Landmark — have made elaborate arrangements for the Potter fans. According to Misra, all the customers who enter Landmark at dawn will be served tea and snacks, while the children get to play inside a replica of the Hogwarts castle built in the store.

Meanwhile, the snack bar at Crossword is also set to open at 5 am.

Crossword and Om Book Store in Ahmedabad are also ready for their share of Potter fans.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com