Today, with the release of the 2.0 version of Google's Mobile Operating System, Android, we all witnessed a case of delayed gratification with some amazing ramifications. Amazingly bad if you're a TomTom or Garmin stockholder.
I remember when Google's StreetView was released on Google Maps. If you're not familiar, Street View aligns pretty well with its name. As you're looking around on Google Maps, you can zoom in and see what it would look like from street level:
Initially, I thought it was cute. I didn't necessarily see the use for it. Once or twice I used it to make sure I was going to the right building or to see what was near a hidden-away restaurant.
Little did I know that Google was delaying some enormous gratification. While I thought Street View was a throw-away add-on for Google Maps, it turns out Street View was a thinly veiled project by Google to map the entire United States, thereby freeing themselves from having to rent maps from another company.
Today, along with version 2.0 of Android, they released a free turn-by-turn navigation application. That's right: free. An app with the same functionality as the $100 TomTom iPhone app.
The gadget blog Engadget put together this graphic to show the very serious trouble GPS navigation companies are in:
That blue line is Garmin's stock price and the red line is TomTom's. That nose-dive on the right end of the graph? That's this morning, when Google Announced their navigation app.
My students know how gadgety I am, so I think telling them about this would work, but I don't think it would be worth how long it would take me to spit it out.
This is the most powerful example of delayed gratification I've seen in a long time.
