SANTA CRUZ, CALIF. – July 7, 2009

MotionX™-GPS, the top selling navigation application for the iPhone, launches an updated version with expanded features and functionality made possible by the recent iPhone 3GS hardware and 3.0 software update. MotionX-GPS embeds the functionality of an advanced handheld GPS unit into a simple and intuitive iPhone application that is ideal for outdoor activities such as biking, running, sailing, skiing, kayaking and more.

Avid sailors, Fullpower founder Philippe Kahn, and vice president of technology, Mark Christensen, are currently using MotionX-GPS V6 as they doublehand across the Pacific in the Transpac 2009, a legendary 2,225 nautical mile race from California to Hawaii. To track the team’s progress, be sure to visit the skipper’s blog at http://www.pegasus.com/log.htm.

“Mark and I make a great team and we are excited to test MotionX-GPS on the open sea and look forward to posting our tracks and positions to followers on Facebook and Twitter,” stated Kahn. “And of course, we plan on spending time imagining a future with all types of motion sensing mobile designs, powered by Fullpower.”

New Features in MotionX-GPS V6:
• MotionX-GPS leverages the integrated digital compass in the iPhone 3GS to determine direction regardless of location and satellite coverage.

• By taking advantage of the new iPhone 3.0 OS, users can directly access and control their iPod music and playlists from within MotionX-GPS.

• MotionX-GPS leverages the OS 3.0’s new Apple Map Kit framework so that Google Maps render faster than ever.

Existing Features:
• One-Click Facebook and Twitter Share allows for tracks to be instantly shared with friends and family.

• Fast and easy map caching means MotionX maps can be accessed offline and rendered quickly even when you’re off-road with no cellular signal.

Embraced by more than 1.5 million outdoor enthusiasts, MotionX-GPS for the iPhone 3G and 3GS is available for $2.99 for a limited time through the Apple App Store.

Fullpower’s MotionX technology platform is the leader for mobile sensing solutions. MotionX solutions span navigation, imaging, life-sciences and energy management. Today the iPhone is the premier showcase for MotionX solutions, with more than 3 million App store downloads.

About Fullpower/MotionX
Founded in 2003 by Sonia Lee and Philippe Kahn, Fullpower’s mission is to put motion-sensing in every mobile device. As the leader in mobile sensing solutions, Fullpower is building on its expertise in wireless sensor technology to deliver unique, interactive motion-sensing applications. MotionX solutions are designed and developed in Santa Cruz, Calif.
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Important Links:
MotionX-GPS V6 in the iTunes Store:
www://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=299949744&mt=8

MotionX Website: www.motionx.com

Skippers Blog/Transpac 2009: www.pegasus.com/log.htm

Pegasus Racing: www.pegasus.com

Apple unveiled the newest version of its smart phone today at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, adding video recording and voice control to the device. The “S” in its name represents “speed,” said Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, after revealing the much-anticipated product during his keynote at Moscone Center. – from LATimes

Everything I wrote about last month in “The Next iPhone” still stands. I expect Apple to announce updated iPhones with significantly faster processors, twice the RAM, and twice the storage. I expected prices to remain the same as the current lineup: $199/299 for 16/32 GB, respectively. The video camera is going to be a major selling point. One additional tidbit I’ve heard is the new hardware’s code name: iPhone 3GS. I’m not certain that’s what it’ll be officially named, but my hunch is yes. I have no idea what the S stands for. – from Daring Fireball

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber made his predictions for the WWDC keynote this morning, talking about what he’s heard and what he’s unsure about. He has a great track record when it comes to such things, so when he says he’s heard a new possible name for the device, it’s at the very least probably a code name, which he notes. And I hope it is a code name, because it’s kind of lame: iPhone 3GS. As I allude to above, he makes the case that the “S” in iPhone 3GS would stand for “Speed.” That makes sense given what Apple is likely to tout with this version, but is a rather boring naming convention. I would much rather see Apple go with some other names that have been tossed around like “iPhone Video” or the “iPhone Pro.” The latter makes some sense given the other recently reported talk that there will be a slightly cheaper version of the iPhone that will be for sale when this new version comes out. A lot of people including Gruber believe this cheaper version could simply be the current iPhone 3G reduced in price to either $149 or $99. – from Techcrunch

New, however, is an assertion that the upgraded models will have extended battery life. The new models will reportedly have “15-20 percent” more useful lifespan between charges than the iPhone 3G, addressing a common complaint about today’s handsets. – from AppleInsider

Apple is believed to have licensed future 3D graphics chips from Imagination Technologies. Apple currently utilizes the 4th generation of this graphics chip, though the 5th generation is now available and ready for use. This new graphics chip will allow for more advanced 3D graphics on the next iPhone. – from Macrumors

Jorge Colombo drew this week’s cover using Brushes, an application for the iPhone, while standing for an hour outside Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Times Square. “I got a phone in the beginning of February, and I immediately got the program so I could entertain myself,” says Colombo, who first published his drawings in The New Yorker in 1994. Colombo has been drawing since he was seven, but he discovered an advantage of digital drawing on a nighttime drive to Vermont. “Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner’s hat, I could not draw in the dark.” (When the sun is up, it’s a bit harder, “because of the glare on the phone,” he says.) It also allows him to draw without being noticed; most pedestrians assume he’s checking his e-mail. – from New Yorker

A new rumor, complete with supposed screenshots, maintains that Apple is on the verge of allowing movie and TV show downloads directly from an iPhone or iPod touch. According to the blogger reporting the purported find, a friend who downloaded the latest version of the iPhone app TwitterFon claims to have discovered three mobile ads from Apple that pointed to “iTunes Movies,” “iTunes Movie Rentals” and “iTunes TV.” Rather than take the visitor to a website, however, tapping one of the ads is said to switch to the mobile iTunes client and shows what appears to be a work-in-progress video section of Apple’s mobile store. Viewers can browse genres and see featured items, but tapping the actual videos themselves produces a notice that the content is “not available.” Promos for episodes and movies are missing. – From Apple Insider

Anybody who said Apple wasn’t serious about gaming can swallow their pundit nuggets right now: They just hired Richard Teversham, Xbox Europe’s (now former) senior director of business, insights and strategy. It’s especially interesting when you take into consideration Apple’s other recent major hire, ATI’s former graphics CTO, the guy who designed the GameCube’s graphics card. For the love of all that is holy and Jobsian, however, it doesn’t mean they’re going to make a MacBoxStationCube 1080—the iPhone (and maybe that tablet/pad thing) is Apple’s gaming platform. 15 of the top 20 paid apps of all time are games. There are over 9,000 games in the App Store. And there are 37 million iPod touches and iPhone out there—still below the PSP’s 50 million and the DS’s 100 million, but consider these are consoles that have been out at least twice as long as the iPhone platform. – From Gizmodo

Apple rumors are either steaming with the heady vapors of pure fantasy, or are spun around a core of interesting facts. The latest rumors about Apple and Verizon being in talks seem to be more the latter. And among the tidbits comes news of potential new Apple gadgets. Business Week, USA Today, and The New York Times are the latest publications to pick up on the rumors (which originated on blogs several weeks earlier). Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, when questioned by reporters, refused to spill any details. But he did confirm that the two companies had been having discussions. – from Fastcompany

Lousy Timing Part I: Apple wouldn’t launch a competing product this summer as it could steal the show from its rumored next-generation iPhone on the AT&T network. Lousy Timing Part II: If Apple wants to launch an iPhone with Verizon, it would rather do so with an LTE phone than a CDMA version, for the reasons Om outlined earlier. But Verizon’s LTE network won’t be ready by summertime.

- from Gigaom

- from CNET

- from WSJ

Hulu, the joint online video venture from NBC Universal and News Corp., is developing software for Apple’s App Store, Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer reports. The app will be available in a few months and is supposedly “as excellent as Hulu’s Web site.” It will reportedly work over both Wi-Fi and 3G. – from MediaPost

Mobile app analytics start-up Flurry is building a business helping iPhone developers get “discovered” in Apple’s App Store. Its tips for developers range from promoting other apps within an app to getting as many users as possible to rate and review an app. (See “Making iPhone Apps Pay.”)

If those tactics don’t work, there are always other tricks. One involves inserting popular keywords into the product descriptions included in every App Store listing. A developer could write that Britney Spears was an inspiration for his app, for instance, or posit that his game is “just as fun” as top-selling game “Tap Tap Revenge.” Think of it as search engine optimization for the App Store. – from Forbes

Nintendo recently announced that owners of its DSi hand-held console will be able buy downloadable games for as little as $2. Nintendo executives said their pricing strategy was formed independently from the App Store, and they were quick to point out how their business was different from Apple’s.

“Are we intrigued by the iPhone? Yes,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo’s North American business. “But our approach is fundamentally different. We want to give our customers high-quality, innovative and captivating entertainment. A storefront with 10,000 pieces of content doesn’t do that.” – from Latimes

- from Macrumors

Citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” the Journal writes that Jobs …

- from CNN