Telmap Inc. announced that it has delivered a white-labeled mobile navigation application for GRUPO IUSACELL, one of the leading wireless operators in Mexico. The application is being rolled out this month under the name Copiloto Ubicacel, marking Telmap’s first entry into the Latin American market. It also marks the launch of Telmap’s second branded application in three weeks.
With the launch, GRUPO IUSACELL becomes the first carrier in Mexico to offer handset-based turn-by-turn navigation to subscribers. Initial deployment is on the operator’s LG Chocolate and LG510 handsets. Expansion to nearly a dozen additional CDMA devices, including a new BlackBerry platform, is planned later this year.
Copiloto Ubicacel provides Telmap-powered location-based, turn-by-turn driving and walking directions with voice, graphic and text-based guidance on subscribers’ mobile phones for about $9 (90 pesos) a month. It also offers maps generated by Telmap’s proprietary mapping and navigation platform; free-text local search for restaurants and other points of interest; and advanced address search capabilities with auto-complete and fuzzy matching to generate accurate results even from minimal or misspelled entries.
“Partnering with Telmap is enabling us to equip our customers with best-in-class mobile navigation technology directly on the handset,” said Gustavo Guevara, GRUPO IUSACELL Director of 3G Products and Services. “We believe that our Telmap-powered Copiloto Ubicacel service will bring us substantial incremental business from our existing customer base as well as attract new customers to IUSACELL and UNEFON.”
“This deployment adds another important BREW operator to our customer base, introduces our technology into Latin America, and is the latest validation of our growing strength in the global mobile navigation market,” said David Singer, Vice President and General Manager of Telmap Inc. “The introduction of two branded applications utilizing our technology platform in three weeks shows that demand for Telmap-powered solutions continues to accelerate as carriers recognize the value of providing mobile navigation to their customers.”
