The iPhone and iOS halo effect can warm your feet, or it can burn your butt. On the burned side of the equation sits any company that makes mapping and navigation software, or devices. We’re looking at you Google, Tom-Tom, Yahoo!, Garmin, and MapQuest.
With Apple’s new iOS 6, which will be supported by a number of iOS devices including several iterations of the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, Apple may be aiming at Google’s (GOOG) Google Maps, but odds are it will hit GPS device vendors like Garmin (GRMN), Cobra Electronics (COBR) and TOMTOM NV (TMOAF) even harder. Those companies compete in the portable GPS market as well as the original equipment manufacturer installed GPS market.
Yes, the iPhone halo effect has warmed the feet of many suppliers and developers, companies like Qualcomm, Skyworks, Cirrus Logic, ARM Holdings, and yes, even Samsung, just to name a few. (You can view a comprehensive list of Apple’s suppliers here.)
There are plenty of companies that haven’t experienced the glow however, only the flames. It’s certainly a fact that competing smartphone makers have been scorched by the iPhone. Nokia, Research in Motion, LG, and HTC have all fallen from favor with the buying public since the introduction of the first iPhone back in 2007.
However, hardware isn’t the only category that Apple can burn a company in. By adding various features as standard apps in its iOS software, Apple can bring the flame to quite a few companies collective rear ends. For example, by adding a native “Reminders” app to IOS, Apple threw a wrench in the works for apps like task management app Wunderlist. Apple’s new Passbook will likely impact apps such as Constant Contact’s Cardstar app. Just like Passbook, Cardstar looks to eliminate physical membership and reward cards with a single free app.
The latest category of both software and hardware makers that will be feeling the heat with the release of the iPhone 5, and iOS 6 is mapping and GPS navigation. Apple’s new native Maps app includes 3D mapping, voice based turn-by-turn navigation, and real-time traffic information.
With the huge base of iOS 6 compatible devices, Apple’s new Maps app will likely impact mapping software offered by companies such as Yahoo!, Google and MapQuest, along with GPS navigation hardware makers such as Tom-Tom and Garmin.
Feel the warmth of that iPhone 5/iOS 6 halo, boys? Tell me, is it going to warm your feet, or burn your butt?
