The largest publishing house in Italy launches a GPS navigation application named after its popular magazine and powered by TeleNav
Sunnyvale, Calif. and Segrate, Italy – June 15, 2011 – TeleNav (NASDAQ: TNAV), one of the largest global wireless location-based services providers, and the Mondadori Group, the largest Italian publisher of books, magazines and advertising, today announced the launch of Panorama Drive, a new GPS search and navigation service for iPhone customers in Western Europe. Panorama Drive carries the same brand name as Panorama Magazine, one of Italy’s most prominent weekly magazines and a publication owned by Mondadori. The service is available immediately on the Apple® App store for €3.99 per week and is the only Italian GPS navigation app for the iPhone that can be purchased through a weekly subscription. Mondadori is also offering a one-month trial promotion period to allow users to download the app for free and let them familiarize and appreciate all of its features for an entire month at no charge.
Panorama Drive is similar to personal GPS devices or in-car GPS navigation systems, but is conveniently available directly on the iPhone and helps customers decide where to go and how to get there. Features include:
· Full-color 3D moving maps with voice and on-screen turn-by-turn driving directions – Just like an in-car navigation system, the 3D maps turn, move and stop along with the driver, while also displaying a realistic image of the streets the driver is approaching and passing. While driving, users get up-to-the minute voice and on-screen guidance, including street names, and will automatically be re-routed if a turn is missed. Navigation can be provided in either landscape or portrait mode.
· Automatic map updates – Users never have to worry about updating new map information or having to pay for map updates. This is included for customers automatically and at no additional charge.
· iPod integration – Customers can listen to music while they receive directions from Panorama Drive. In addition, enhanced iPod controls offer the ability to search through songs, artists, etc. from within the app.
· Shake to Go – For quick and easy directions to their home address, users simply shake their iPhone while using Panorama Drive and the service will launch the route.
· Business Listings/Ratings and Reviews – Users can search and find more than five million businesses and services, including ATMs, restaurants, hotels and petrol stations, and easily navigate to them with the click of a button. Panorama Drive also includes business reviews and ratings so that before users head to a restaurant or make a reservation at a hotel, they can see how it was rated and reviewed by other people.
· Customizable route options – Users can customize their route types by choosing to avoid toll roads, using pedestrian mode for navigation while walking or setting the map display colors to a “nighttime” mode for easier viewing at night.
· Pedestrian mode – Users can use Panorama Drive for their iPhone to navigate European cities such as Rome, Milan, Paris and more on foot.
· Languages – The application is available also in English.
“The system developed by TeleNav offers such a wide range of services with such an immediate and user-friendly interface that we had no doubts about the choice of partner for the launch of this new application for our Panorama brand,” declared Roberto Sicardi, Head of Properties of Mondadori Digital. “With Panorama Drive iPhone users will be able to use a new sat nav system that uses the very latest technology and is guaranteed by a highly prestigious brand,” Sicardi concluded.
“Partnering with Mondadori provides TeleNav with an opportunity to share our application with iPhone customers across Western Europe while leveraging the strength of the Panorama brand,” said Ian Tredgett, director of business development for TeleNav’s European operations. “We are thrilled to partner with Mondadori and look forward to working with them to promote this service with their readers across the country.”
Panorama Drive is available in Italian and includes maps and business listings for 24 Western European countries.
About TeleNav
TeleNav, Inc. is a leading provider of consumer location-based services (LBS), enterprise LBS and automotive LBS with more than 23 million paying subscribers as of March 31, 2011. TeleNav’s solutions provide consumers, wireless service providers, enterprises and automakers with location-specific, real-time, personalized services such as GPS navigation, local search, mobile advertising, mobile commerce, location tracking and workflow automation. TeleNav’s technology is available across more than 600 types of mobile phones, all major mobile phone operating systems and a broad range of wireless network protocols. TeleNav’s service providers and partners include AT&T, Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, China Mobile, Cincinnati Bell, Ford Motor Company, NII Holdings, QNX Software Systems, Rogers, Sprint Nextel, Telcel, T-Mobile UK, T-Mobile USA, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Vivo Brazil.
For more information on TeleNav, please visit www.telenav.com. Follow TeleNav on Twitter at www.twitter.com/telenav or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/telenav.
About the Mondadori Group
The Mondadori Group is among the most important publishing houses in Europe and Italy’s biggest publisher of books and magazines. The activities of Mondadori Group are organized around the following business areas: books, magazines, advertising, digital, direct marketing and retail, radio. Mondadori is also one of the leading players in France in the consumer magazines market.
With more than fifty subsidiary and associated companies and 3,649 employees, the Mondadori Group covers the main publishing activities from the creation of products to marketing and distribution. In 2010, Mondadori Group had consolidated revenue of €1.558,3 billion.