Apparently Boost Mobile is a Nextel subsidiary, and now that Sprint owns Nextel, it explains why Sprint/Nextel is the next logical carrier. This also makes you wonder if AT&T or TMobile would ever support it.
2. The existing loopt software is j2me, which the iphone conspicuously doesn't support.
3. Loopt does have a website, not sure how well it works on n iphone, but since the iphone is basically acting like a small computer (no gps, has a mouse) it seems like the proper channel to the service.
Apple's decision not to include GPS may be indicative of phones relying more and more on wifi and 2G/3G networks for "cloud" based approaches to location and mapping.
> I can't think of many problems that require GPS.
It's extremely valuable in all sorts of applications. Google maps + GPS would be amazingly useful and would severely damage Garmin's market. I would use it for mapping my bike paths and "geomarking" great restaurants.
You can partially compensate the lack of GPS using cell id and user generated data to bind it to objects of interest in proximity. You can even add real GPS coordinates from phones that have the capability. It is a startup idea I chose not to pursue.
This is maybe useful to figure out what city you are in, which might save a click or two here and there, or might save some time loading up a high level map. It's not that exciting, and like I said earlier apple would need to be fairly convinced it will "just work" to deploy it.
While it's an exciting thought, I don't think apple will implement that until its more reliable ("just works").
I doubt others will get a chance to implement it because it would require low level access to the wireless hardware, but I really am not qualified to comment here.
I think apple probably wanted GPS but had to axe it for battery life and/or form factor (both spec's probably sitting at hard requirements from the early stages of the phone's design). So then I'd expect GPS to be on future models.
The iPhone still does not allow on-deck applications and there isn't a public SDK. So feature rich applications like Loopt are still not possible which is unfortunate.
I really dislike Apple right now for this very reason. Maintaining a closed policy for the iPhone is greedy in my opinion and has nothing to do with the "program stability" excuse Apple keeps giving. Lame.
I went into "Get New Applications" and searched for loopt and didn't find anything. I think the WSJ's announcement is only saying that Sprint will be offering Loopt soon, not that it's available for download right now.
