Sprint Nextel adds location services to data plans

Sprint Nextel Corp. is hoping to push its new location-based offerings by adding them to some of its high-end data plans.
The carrier added a host of GPS-enabled navigation services to its Power Vision Ultimate Pack and Business Pack, both of which are offered at $25. Sprint Nextel also launched a $20-a-month Navigation Pack, which includes the location-based services as well as unlimited Web browsing and data access, picture mail, e-mail and multimedia services.
The services, which are powered by TeleNav Inc., include voice-guided, turn-by-turn driving directions, moving 3-D maps, local search, traffic alerts and a feature that locates the least expensive gas nearby. Subscribers on some other packages can purchase the offerings for $3 for a 24-hour period.
“What we’re doing is making navigation that much more accessible to our users,” said Charnsin Tulyasathien, a product manager at Sprint Nextel. “The key next step is educating the consumer that this mobile device that they use for voice can also be used for navigation.”
TeleNav also powers a new workforce-management offering launched by Cingular earlier this week. The application, dubbed TeleNav Track, offers GPS-enabled location-tracking, mileage-tracking, wireless time sheets, alerts and detailed location-reporting.
TeleNav Track is available on the new Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry 8800 and Hewlett-Packard Co. iPAQ hw6920.
“In today’s competitive marketplace, companies with employees in the field need tools that will assist them in maximizing the productivity of their workforces,” said Jeff Bradley, vice president of wireless business data services at Cingular.