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Press Release: February 13th, 2007FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ALK Technologies announces CoPilot Live GPS navigation for BlackBerry
February 13th 2007, 3GSM World Congress, Barcelona. ALK Technologies today announced CoPilot® Live™ GPS navigation software for the latest BlackBerry® devices, supporting both the BlackBerry® Pearl™ and the new GPS-ready BlackBerry® 8800™. CoPilot® Live BlackBerry Edition is the first server-based "off-board" CoPilot navigation system from ALK, and reflects the company's ambition of making premium, full-featured GPS navigation available for the widest possible range of phones and devices. CoPilot Live transforms a BlackBerry® into a powerful satellite navigation system, complete with clear voice guidance, detailed street mapping and powerful route calculation. Maps are downloaded automatically to the phone during a journey via the mobile internet and complete door to door trips are calculated in seconds on the device. Entering destinations is made simple with a choice of full UK postcode, house number, street or a BlackBerry address book contact. Home and work locations can be saved for easy one-touch navigation to the most commonly visited places. As with all CoPilot navigation systems, CoPilot Live BlackBerry Edition's driver safety mode is designed to avoid distraction when out on the road by only displaying a map on the approach to a turn, at which point a colourful auto-zoom map shows the way ahead. If a turn is missed during the journey CoPilot works out the best new route in seconds, while an instant detour button can find an immediate route around unexpected congestion. Out on the road does not mean out of touch. CoPilot Live BlackBerry Edition incorporates location-specific Live services that provide useful information to drivers and enabling safe interaction with others. Traffic information is delivered directly into CoPilot Live via the mobile internet, offering the choice to avoid or ignore reported incidents. Real-time location tracking is included as standard, allowing colleagues, friends or family to view your location in real-time, send messages and even new destinations directly to CoPilot Live via a secure web site. For a small monthly subscription, BlackBerry® devices with CoPilot Live navigation can be connected seamlessly to ALK's LBS Challenge award-winning fleet management service FleetCenter™ for multi-vehicle tracking, messaging, job despatch and reporting a simple web interface. Businesses of all sizes can gain real-time visibility and management of mobile assets easily and cost-effectively using mobile phones. A safety camera warning system is included as standard, with camera locations updated monthly. On-screen and spoken alerts provide warnings on the approach to each camera, encouraging safer driving and reducing the risk of license loss. Michael Kornhauser, Vice President, Managing Director of ALK Technologies said "now BlackBerry users can experience high quality, feature-packed satellite navigation without needing to invest in additional hardware or a dedicated navigation system. The launch of this off-board version of CoPilot Live is another important milestone in our quest to provide customers with a great navigation experience on the widest range of mobile phones." "As CoPilot Live BlackBerry Edition offers location-specific Live services and location tracking as well as turn by turn navigation, the map data plays a doubly important role. We are, of course, delighted that NAVTEQ map data for the UK is supporting this application," commented Serge Bussat, VP Consumer Applications Europe at NAVTEQ. "ALK Technologies' launch of a CoPilot Live product for Blackberry handsets underlines the tremendous growth in demand for smartphone navigation systems." CoPilot Live 7 will be initially available for the BlackBerry® Pearl and the new BlackBerry® 8800 with in-built GPS receiver. Notes to Editors About ALK Technologies ALK Technologies is at the forefront of mobile navigation technology with over 28 years expertise developing solutions for corporate and consumer customers globally. ALK's CoPilot® mobile GPS navigation solutions are available in Europe, North America and Australia as retail-branded products and as the basis for leading OEM navigation systems, while the Company’s PC*MILER® routing, mapping and fleet management solutions are used by over 23,000 transportation, logistics and manufacturing companies Worldwide. CoPilot® Live transforms mobile phones and other portable devices into powerful satellite navigation systems with the additional benefit of integrated real-time location-tracking, messaging, and information services. The software is rapidly becoming the satellite navigation software of choice for Mobile Operators, OEM's and handset manufacturers. Commercial partners include Acer, T-Mobile, O2, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Intermec, HP, Panasonic, HTC, Scania, Ford and BMW. Technology partners include NAVTEQ, Microsoft, Symbian, Sirf, Marvel and NXP. Corporate customers include Tesco.com, Drive Assist, Severn Trent Water and McNicholas Plc. ALK is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and received the 2005 Microsoft Partner of the Year award for Mobility Solutions Sales and Marketing. The Company’s innovative FleetCenter™ integrated navigation, location-tracking and fleet management application won the 2006 Global LBS Challenge. ALK is the Navigation and Tracking Sponsor to the Gumball 3000 Rally, and a Sponsor to Charlton Athletic FC. www.alk.com/eu For further press information, images, product information or review, please contact: For more details, visit www.alk.com or www.alk.eu.com |
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