GPS, already indispensable for soldiers, pilots and lorry drivers, is now also useful for runners and bicyclists.
The idea for the athlete-related usage was born out of frustration, when Finnish inventor Ville Kampman found he was unable to measure his physical performance on a bumpy mountain-bike trail. As a result, his company FRWD came up with a product that tracks distance, speed, altitude and heart rate.
Meanwhile in Austin, Texas, thousands of miles away, Jon Werner was developing a similar GPS product that would measure the distance and elevation of hilly jogging trails.
"Up to then, some people would first get into their cars in order to measure the distance they would run," said Werner, who co-founded Bones In Motion three years ago.
GPS, or Global Positioning System, can pinpoint a location down to a few metres, using satellites. In recent years, it has been used by a handful of companies to provide athletes with information that used to be available only on treadmills and stationary bikes in a fitness centre.
Fitness instruments make up a lucrative niche in the Finnish consumer electronics industry. Some of the best-known names are Polar Electro from Oulu, near the Arctic Circle in the north of Finland, and Suunto, from the Finnish capital Helsinki.
Set up in 1977, Polar claims to be the world's leading producer of sports instruments and heart-rate monitoring equipment, with sales of $208.6m in 2004. Suunto, part of Amer Sports whose inventory includes diving watches, generated $93.3m in sales in 2005.
Even though Polar and Suunto watches can count a runner's heartbeats and the number of calories burned, they cannot calculate the exact distance travelled. They can only provide estimates by using a sophisticated step counter.
The new Nike+iPod Sport Kit underlines that major electronics companies such as Apple are discovering the opportunity, but that kit is still not much more than a pedometer.
GPS devices provide the solution to this critical gap of accuracy, though they are much bigger than the sleek wristwatches from Polar, which can also cost up to £400.
The first fitness device from GPS navigation company Navman from Auckland, New Zealand resembles a triangle-shaped hockey puck that is strapped to the arm.
Garmin, a company best known for marine, hiking and road trackers, offers fitness devices with mobile phone-sized heart monitors, which cyclists mount on their handle bars.
The products are not cheap. FRWD's devices cost up to £300 while Garmin's top model retails for £230.
And the demands of an athlete do not stop at GPS devices. Most runners also like to carry electronic items such as a music player and a mobile phone -- all of which serve to weigh them down physically as well as financially.
"Many women already carry a phone for security. Cyclists carry one, too, in case they get stranded with a flat tyre. We wanted to put all the functions together in one small enough device," said Werner at Bones In Motion.
Werner designed his own GPS module with MP3 player and mobile phone, but the product was too expensive. Fortunately, at about the same time, mobile phone makers began putting GPS modules into their phones under the US 911 emergency directive.
In the US, almost half of new phones come with a built-in GPS tracker. Since February, Bones In Motion has been offering Sprint customers fitness software for $9.99 (£5.30) a month.
"We planned to charge around $6, but a survey among 400 potential customers said they thought it was worth $10 a month. Runners are a great demographic target group. They're high income and gadget friendly," Werner said. Plans are under way to add a heart monitor strap.
Mobile phones, with their sizable displays and computing power, also offer the opportunity to add more functions. Bones In Motion is planning upgrades of its software which will allow a runner or cyclist to plot a course on a computer, download it to the phone and get navigation directions during the work-out.
People can also share and download each other's routes.
The fitness niche is not lost on established mobile phone makers.
Market leader Nokia has announced its 5500 Sport model and Sony Ericsson the W710i Walkman phone. Both can count steps and play music.
"This is going to be a big part of the market. The lifestyle segment is rapidly growing," said Ben Wood, a director at Collins Consulting, which advises the mobile telecoms sector.
Bones In Motion is not the only software company benefiting from more advanced mobile phones. Privately owned mobile games producer Digital Chocolate is offering Atkins 2 Go software, which consumers can use to keep track of their weight and diet.
Story Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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