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Google ($GOOG) Steps Into Another Market: GPS for Phones

In a move that is likely to be seen as an attack on yet another industry, Google on Wednesday introduced a free navigation system for mobile phones that offers turn-by-turn directions. Analysts said that Google's free service, if successful, could erode the sales of GPS navigation devices made by companies like Garmin and TomTom and of navigation services offered by cellphone carriers. "There's no doubt that those guys are going to be disrupted," said Greg Sterling, an analyst with Opus Research. Google has sowed animosity in various business sectors by giving away products and services that others charge for, from digital voice mail to Web analytics tools. But during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said he didn't think of the new service as disrupting an industry. Instead, he said it is a windfall for consumers that was made possible by the increasing power of smartphones and the growing ubiquity of Internet access. "Obviously we like the price of free because consumers like that as well," he said. (NYTimes.com)

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