We’ve seen a lot of things happen in 2009, some things were expected, some were not, some were shocking, and some were simply never seen or heard of before.
From the biggest Ponzi scheme ever seen in U.S. history, to the global financial credit crisis, to historic health care reform championed by the first black President of the United States.
A lot has happened in 2009, and we’ve compiled it all up for you with the top 8 topics of the entire year.
1. The Global Financial Crisis
With the near collapse of the global credit market, and unprecedented actions being taken by global leaders to stave off a global economic meltdown, the financial crisis was plastered in the media almost every day and even became a primary presidential voting issue, thereby making it the story of 2009. With billions provided in emergency bailout loans to financial intermediaries, Wall Street was still paying millions in bonuses with outstanding government loans, while millions of Americans faced forclosurer and high unemployment rates. The Obama administration later moved to block $165-million in AIG bonuses alone and later blocked bonuses from being paid while the financial intermediaries had outstanding government debt. Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway even reported its biggest loss ever (only its second loss in its history). There were also opportunities for firms to act on, such as Disney who acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4B. Despite households losing significant amounts of money primairly from their positions in risky equity positions, some did profit (though not for too long)…Bearnie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison following a conviction for operating the biggest Ponzi scheme ever seen in U.S. history that saw $50 billion defrauded from investors.
The search giant unveiled its free mobile GPS turn-by-turn directions app, sending stocks of traditional GPS-makers plummeting
Well, we knew Google would do this sooner or later. The company has announced it would begin to offer free GPS turn-by-turn navigation with its new and free Google Maps Navigation application.
The application will be initially available only in the United States and with support for devices running Android 2.0 or higher (see the second embedded video below to learn more about Android 2.0).
Google Maps Navigation supports voice search, satellite view, 3D view, traffic information, automatic rerouting, among many other features you would find on premium GPS devices.
The first more advanced GPS turn-by-turn navigation app to launch on the iPhone seems to be the MobileNavigator Europe app from Navigon. The app is now listed on iTunes and marked as “available soon” on the company website.
The app features 2D and 3D displays, most recent NAVTEQ maps with 2.1M+ European POIs, Real Sign Post display, Take Me Home function, Speed Assistant, portrait and landscape support, among many other features. The complete feature set can be found here.
The app currently only supports maps of select European areas. The total download size required on your iPhone is 1.65GB.
This app is very aggressively priced at $94.99.
The same company also offers its app on other platforms such as Symbian and Windows Mobile.
The other large players in the GPS navigation space such as TomTom will also offer their own iPhone apps (see the TomTom iPhone video here) given how lucrative the app store can be. The iPhone now offers TomTom the possibility of a real revenue stream given how closed the iPhone OS is when it comes to cracked software, compared to other platforms TomTom is available on such as Symbian.
The other big player in the space, Garmin, has opted to develop its own branded smartphone dubbed the Nuvifone (see hands on video) with its GPS app installed. Although unveiled on February 12, 2009, the Nuvifone is still not on the horizon for a release. Although unannounced, we can likely expect Garmin to also release an iPhone version as well to remain competitive.
Garmin-ASUS have just introduced their Nuvifone M20 which is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1. The 3G 7.2Mbps HSPA GSM device features a large 2.8-inch display, 640×480px resolution, 3MP camera, an accelerometer, WiFi g, among other features. The phone also features a customized media player that is finger friendly and displays album art. The device comes with either 4GB or 8GB of internal storage; external storage is not available on either. The GPS app is also heavily customized to ensure it works as well as a GPS car unit which includes a customized interface and better turn-by-turn voiced directions. The company said it would release pricing and shipping dates in spring or summer.
Some very interesting news, Garmin and ASUS have announced a new strategic alliance to build a new mobile phone (Garmin-ASUS nuvifone series) powered by a new Garmin OS. The OS has not been completely finalized yet. Various Garmin phones are expected to hit the market in 2009 with the first one debuting at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona near the end of February. The phones will also be bundled with Google Apps, though not much more information is being released. I’ve always thought the GPS makers would need to diversify their products as more and more devices converge, especially GPS and mobile phones.
Garmin has just announced two new eTrex GPS navigation systems. The new eTrex Legend H and Vista H are ruggedized systems that feature improved GPS reception, 24MB flash memory and USB ports to push created maps to your device. The Vista H also features a compass and an altimeter. The devices come preinstalled with North and South American maps. Garmin will also bundle these devices with its BaseCamp application, which allows you to create off-road maps for hiking and other off-road adventures. Garmin says it will cost up to $200 for the Vista H and about $150 for the Legend H. No timeframes were released.
With the near collapse of the global credit market, and unprecedented actions being taken by global leaders to stave off a global economic meltdown, the financial crisis was plastered in the media almost every day and even became a primary presidential voting issue, thereby making it the story of 2009. With billions provided in emergency bailout loans to financial intermediaries, Wall Street was still paying millions in bonuses with outstanding government loans, while millions of Americans faced forclosurer and high unemployment rates. The Obama administration later moved to block $165-million in AIG bonuses alone and later blocked bonuses from being paid while the financial intermediaries had outstanding government debt. Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway even reported its biggest loss ever (only its second loss in its history). There were also opportunities for firms to act on, such as Disney who acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4B. Despite households losing significant amounts of money primairly from their positions in risky equity positions, some did profit (though not for too long)…Bearnie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison following a conviction for operating the biggest Ponzi scheme ever seen in U.S. history that saw $50 billion defrauded from investors.
Well, we knew Google would do this sooner or later. The company has 
The first more advanced GPS turn-by-turn navigation app to launch on the iPhone seems to be the 
