Naviblog and the Police

-- fresh from the Naviblog website!

* In an article featured in today's IT Nikkei, the online version of Japan's financial broadsheet, Japan's police services are finally kicking off the implementation of a new mobile phone-enabled emergency service. This new system to be implemented by April 2007, picks up both the call and the caller's location, using the phone's built-in GPS chip.
* It is one step towards the adoption of a Japan-wide police emergency-location system tied in with the GPS functionality. A few years ago, the Ministry of Telecoms suggested that all 3G mobile phone carriers should implement GPS chips in their handsets by April 2007. But there has been no fresh news since then, but with this formal announcement, we now know for sure that the two kickoff dates were tied from day one.
* So what? Well, if all phones are required to have GPS chips by 2007, that means that Naviblog's potential user market goes from 20m (au only) to about 90m (all carriers currently): an increase of more than 400%... that's got to be good news! We love the police services.