If your phone doesn’t have built-in location features (and it won’t if it’s a low cost device), then decent GPS navigation will require you to go and buy a personal navigation device or “PND” as they are known. Often that PND could end up costing 5 times as much as your actual handset.

What do you do if you’ve got 5,000 employees all using some fairly reliable handsets without GPS facilities… and you’d like to give them all mobile navigation service?

The answer is talk with BlueSky Positioning and Telmap. They’ve integrated real-time location-based navigation services into a sim card with A-GPS facilities.

I like the idea of being able to augment mid-range handsets in this way. You can run it on cheap-as-chips handsets but they’ll need to be able to run the Telmap software (which might be a big ask).

For most people, A-GPS (“network-assisted-GPS”) is a fairly good alternative. You won’t necessarily get a precise location fix, but it should be good enough to handle most navigation requirements.

Since we’re talking about the sim card, there’s a lot of potential possibilities there for operators to control the offering, particularly for specific market segments and not necessarily for consumers.

You can read more about the offering here.

Although not really in the remit of NokiaWorldWatch, we thought we’d bring you this shot seeing as it’s still almost part of the press event.

Also not actually having seen an unlocked Apple handset before it piqued our interest, just as it would many others so we thought we’d share it with you guys.

Posted via email from MIR Live

This looks rather smart, eh?

Have you come across this before? It launched in April this year and they’ve been shipping to 37 countries since launch.

Here’s the SIMable overview:

SIMable is an ultra thin chip, that when attached to a SIM card, immediately fools most mobile phones into thinking that they have been unlocked. It is compatible with the majority of mobile handsets, including all Nokia BB5 phones, which are becoming more and more difficult to be freed from their original Network.

The company behind it, 24/7 Mobile Solutions Ltd, maintains that:

SIMable can be installed and working in a Network locked handset in a matter of seconds. By using a customised manufactured cutting press, which comes with each unit, a tiny hole needs to be pressed out in the SIM card. Next SIMable needs to be aligned with the SIM and inserted into the locked handset. Using the cutting press, SIMable can be used more than once by transferring to any other SIM card.

Hmm. Interesting! I could use this. In fact I could use it on all my handsets.

I wonder, by the way, if it works with iPhone?

The 24/7 chaps draw these points to your attention as well:

Whilst mobile phone unlocking is not illegal, it will in most cases invalidate the handset’s warranty. SIMable requires no handset interference and thus the full manufacturer’s guarantee remains intact.

The company are keen to stress that unlike any other similar application on the market, SIMable enables 100% functionality on all phones, including full 3G operation.

Ok let’s get down to the nitty gritty. How much?

£16.99 from www.simable.com. Each package includes the SIMable chip and customised cutting press, which eliminates any need for messy SIM cutting with scissors.

I’m going to try and get hold of one and try it out.