Verizon Ripping You Off for GPS Functionality

Last month, a New York Times blogger wrote a post called “One Reason We Need a Google Phone: Free GPS.” He was complaining that cellphone carriers, mainly Verizon, are disabling the GPS navigation systems built into phones so they can charge $10 a month for the service.

Telephia, a research firm, reported today that half of the $118 million that consumers in the United States spent on cellphone applications in the second quarter of this year was on what it calls “location based services.” That’s mainly services like Verizon’s VZ Navigator that display maps and driving directions using GPS hardware built into phones. Verizon charges $9.99 a month or $2.99 a day for the service.

Verizon is opening up it’s platform now because in Google’s open model for its Android operating system, carriers and phone makers are free to put as many gotchas as they want into phones. Including, for Verizon, this GPS to map gotcha that steals $240 million a year from us in $9.99 per month or $2.99 a DAY fees.