Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Sep 19, 3:59?am, Michael Ash wrote:
It's something I've given some thought to. I don't have an iPhone and
don't want to pay for the expensive subscription, so I was hoping that the
second version of the iPod Touch would include GPS. Unfortunately it
didn't, so the iPhone is still the only one with that.

I guess it varies from country to country but here in NZ Vodafone have
recently introduced a plan for $40/month (US$27) -- of which nearly
$12 is effectively paying back the $280 subsidy in the $699 purchase
price on an 8 GB iPhone. Or you can pay the full $979 up front and
use it on prepay, which costs you nothing if you don't use the phone.
Data on prepay costs $1 for anything between 200 KB and 10 MB on a
given a calendar day, or 0.5c/KB if you use less than 200 KB. (and $1
a MB if you go past 10 MB :-( )

In the US the only option is with a 2-year subscription starting at
$70/month, not including taxes, which push the minimum bill up near
$80/month. My current subscription is about $45/month after taxes and I'm
looking at ways to reduce even that, as I don't make that many calls.

Unfortunately Apple has some heavy restrictions on what you can do with
the platform, including one that says "Applications may not be designed or
marketed for real time route guidance". I don't know if that would cover
this sort of software or not. From what I hear it's extremely difficult to
get a definitive answer about these things out of Apple without simply
building the app and trying to get it approved. It is possible to work
around these limitations and bypass Apple for distribution, but it tends
to be more work and limit your audience, making it kind of risky.

It's a bit restrictive if you want to put the program into the
AppStore, yes. I believe that the turn by turn guidance restriction
is purely due to licensing terms for the street maps, and possibly
some liability reasons if you go the wrong way down a one-way street.
If there is any justice then that would not apply to an aviation
application.

Yes, but we're talking about Apple here....

The main problem is the risk. It *shouldn't* apply to an aviation
application, but the only way to really find out is to actually build the
app, submit it, and see if they let it through. If they don't, that's a
lot of work potentially lost.

For such a specialized application I don't know if getting into the
AppStore is such a big thing. It does simplify the "getting paid"
problem hugely, especially for very cheap programs where transaction
costs would normally kill you, but as the market will be small I don't
think you're going to see a soaring application from anyone for $1 or
$2.

Other distribution mechanisms:
[snip]

I agree, for the price that you're likely to be charging for such a
program, bypassing Apple altogether would become worthwhile. The trouble
is that there's always a risk that Apple will shut these mechanisms down,
but the smart money always goes with the hackers in this kind of contest,
so it's probably not a significant worry.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon