Despite carrying along my GPS navigation unit and an iPhone, with its featured Google Maps widget, I did not feel fully comfortable embarking on my drive until I also had my Mapquest directions printout laid out next to me. While I imagine many people may find it overkill to have both a GPS and printed directions, I wondered whether I was the only GPS owner still relying on online maps.

GPS units have become more and more popular recently thanks to falling prices and added features like music players and real-time traffic reports. USA Today quotes that The Consumer Electronics Association estimated that sales remain on track to surpass 2008’s 15.1 million units, despite the struggling economy. With summer traveling season coming to an end, I was curious as to the impact the growing popularity of GPS units has on online web mapping services like Google Maps and MapQuest.

Using Compete data, I tracked people who purchased a GPS in June and examined their online behavior from the month before their purchase to two months following their purchase. The chart below shows activity at the two largest online web mapping services, Google Maps and MapQuest, before, the month of, and after purchasing a GPS system at major retailers or OEM sites online.

Percentage of GPS Purchasers who used MapQuest.com or Maps.Google.com Before, During, and After Month of Purchase
(Compete data based on following sites: Amazon, Buy, NewEgg, TigerDirect, TheNerds, BestBuy, Costco, Walmart, J&R, Staples OfficeMax, OfficeDepot, CompUSA, TomTom)

What does this data tell us about GPS purchasers use of online map services?

• Not surprisingly, GPS purchasers visited Google Maps more frequently than MapQuest both before and after the purchase; this matches overall traffic trends seen at these sites (Google Maps had 24% more Unique Visitors in August ’09).
• Interestingly, while the number of people using an online mapping service dropped in the months following purchase (down 22%), a majority of consumers tracked still visited online mapping sites (58% of GPS purchasers tracked visited a mapping site the month following purchase).

One might think that owning a GPS would eliminate the need for other mapping services, but this is not the case. One potential explanation is that people use online maps as a backup in case the GPS does not work properly, perhaps in case of poor reception. Personally, I have experienced countless times where my GPS lost signal driving past skyscrapers. Perhaps a more likely reason is people like to use online maps as a reference before getting into their car to find out how far and what the general directions are for the trip.

Google Maps, MapQuest, and other online mapping services probably don’t need to worry about being made entirely obsolete by the GPS unit. However, as GPS usage becomes more and more mainstream, it might behoove online mapping services to try to improve and integrate their systems with GPS manufacturers so they have a greater reach – in the car and on the computer.

Smartphone applications have been receiving a lot of buzz lately. Banks are not sitting on the sidelines: according to ABI Research, a technology research firm, the number of US banks offering mobile banking will jump from 245 in 2008 to 614 this year. The supply of mobile banking applications is increasing rapidly, but what does demand look like? Do Smartphone owners want to manage their finances from their phones?

As an avid iPhone user, I frequently surf the new apps in search of anything new or exciting. I never downloaded my bank’s free mobile banking application because I never saw the need to check my account balance or transfer funds while waiting in line for coffee. Apparently, I’m not the only one.

In our quarterly Smartphone Intelligence survey, Compete asked Smartphone owners how they are using their mobile devices to manage finances. Of the people surveyed, 82% do not currently use their mobile device to manage their finances. The chart below shows the most frequently selected responses when we asked these people why they weren’t using mobile banking.

We can see here that 53% of Smartphone owners said that they saw no need to manage their finances from a mobile device, while about a third said they didn’t trust mobile banking security. Other reasons, like concern about the cost of mobile banking, not knowing the service exists, slow Internet connection on their phone, and not having Internet on their phone were less significant for users.

So banks are confronted with two big challenges when it comes to mobile banking: convincing their customers of why they need to bank on their phones as well as building a sense of trust in mobile banking security.

Changing both of these things may just take some time, as it did with online banking, to get people used to the idea and integrate the service into their regular routines. But it will likely also take some marketing on the part of the banks to increase trust in security for mobile transactions and to help customers find ways to try and use the service on a regular basis.

The other day, I downloaded the BofA application to test it out. The app features a simple and user-friendly interface. However, I rarely find myself in a situation where I need to perform a financial transaction, or even find a nearby ATM, from my phone. I might be one of those people the banks need to convince.