GPS on the 3rd Gen iPod Touch

There is mounting indirect evidence that the 3rd Gen iPod Touch will
have a GPS chip inside in addition to other more widely expected
improvements.

Before we discuss why it will have lets look into why the 1rst and
second gen iPhones did not have.

The 1st gen iPod Touch was a barebone test platform for Apple to gauge
interest into its touch Interface. It was marketed as a iPod with
internet capabilities. None of its original aps had a need of a GPS.
Google Maps for example could not download maps outside of WiFi
coverage and so fiding your location regardless of internet conection
was not feasible.

While the 2nd gen iPod Touch did allow 3rd party Apps that can make
good use of GPS, accurate positioning was again not yet feasible
outside of Internet coverage and of little use within it.
The most impprtant category of Apps that needed location data outside
of WiFi coverage was Turn by Turn and Apple did not allow those yet.

Here is what was on the table by the time the design of the third gen
iPpd Touch was finalised.
- Apple had 1 year experience running the App Store and had a good
grasp of the need of accurate location data in Apps.
- Apple had 1 year of experience using the iPhone 3G GPS chip to brimg
down cost and optimise power consumption
- Apple was shipping the 3.0 software that allowed developers to write
turn by turn apps
- Apple introduced Places feature in iPhoto '09 which made use of
location data inside photos.
- GPS equiped camera device is the best option for Pictures with
accurate location data.
- Apple has reportedly ordered camera chips for its new iPod Touch
identical to the ones used on the iPhone 3GS.
- The iPod Touc had found a target audience different from the one
buing the iPhone and so making shure the the iPhone OS platform runs
on devices with maximum compatibility is a top priority for Apple.

So the 3rd Gen iPod Touch will not only feature the faster hardware of
the iPhone 3GS but likely also the Magnetometer and GPS chip.

Sent from my iPhone