Mobile World Congress, BARCELONA, February 16 /PRNewswire/ -- ALK Technologies today announced that its CoPilot Live navigation software has been selected by HTC (TAIEX: 2498; HTC), a global designer of mobile devices to provide turn-by-turn voice guidance on the new GPS-enabled Touch Cruise smartphone in selected European and Worldwide regions.

HTC's new Touch Cruise with CoPilot Live provides a breakthrough navigation experience on a phone, combining HTC's latest touch screen innovation with sophisticated voice-guided navigation. The fully integrated solution also provides useful navigation-based services such as live local search and weather information via the phone's mobile Internet connection that can make every journey easier, when travelling in-car or on foot.

A customised version of CoPilot Live, complete with full street maps of a country or region, is preinstalled on the phone and seamlessly integrated with HTC's FootPrints(TM) photo navigation application. This break-through application experience enables people to permanently chronicle their special moments by capturing and storing a digital postcard on their phone, enabling users to retrace their steps to that exact location in just a few touches. Turn directions are displayed on colourful 3D maps or in a non-distracting Driver Safety mode, guiding motorists reliably and safely. Pedestrians can take advantage of CoPilot's walking routing and straight line guidance to find the way more easily around unfamiliar cities.

The Touch Cruise with CoPilot offers the same ease of use as a dedicated navigation system, and is supplied with an innovative car kit. When inserted into the Touch Cruise car holder the phone automatically switches to in-car mode, launching CoPilot's navigation display and prompting for a connection to a Bluetooth headset.

CoPilot Live also brings the latest in connected navigation technology to the Touch Cruise, making even the most familiar journeys more predictable. Customers with mobile Internet access can easily find the nearby places they need using a seamless connection to Microsoft Live Search; check the weather at their destination and share their journeys with others using CoPilot's web-based location tracking service. Real-time traffic information is available for a subscription.

Additional navigation features include a pre-installed database of safety cameras with free-of charge location updates, and the ability to transfer CoPilot's street maps to a separate memory card. Customers planning to travel abroad can purchase and download additional maps, such as North America, Australia or the whole of Europe from a dedicated web store.

Commenting on the announcement, Michael Kornhauser, Vice President at ALK Technologies said: We have worked closely with HTC to fully integrate CoPilot Live into the Touch Cruise and we are delighted to extend our relationship with this announcement. The combined solution is the latest stage in the logical evolution of GPS navigation from the dedicated device to the phone, offering the dependability of on-board mapping with seamless and genuinely useful mobile Internet services.

We are excited to be delivering the new HTC Touch Cruise with CoPilot in selected regions across Europe. The Touch Cruise not only delivers simple, yet accurate navigation - with HTC Footprints we are changing how people interact and carry their memories said Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC Europe.

HTC's Touch Cruise with CoPilot Live navigation will be available in certain European and Worldwide regions, including France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Gulf Coast States of Middle East, Australia and South Africa from Q1 2009. It will also be available via selected mobile operators in other regions. For further information about the phone, please visit http://www.htc.com

The Touch Cruise will be on display at Mobile World Congress at the CoPilot Live demonstration area on the Microsoft stand, Hall 1 (D19) and on the ALK Technologies CoPilot Live stand in Hall 2 (EZ6). For more information about CoPilot Live, visit http://www.copilotlive.com

About ALK Technologies

ALK Technologies has been developing innovative mobile navigation and transportation technology solutions since 1979. ALK's award-winning CoPilot(TM) GPS software is increasingly being adopted as the navigation choice for mobile operators, hardware OEMs and systems integrators globally, while the company's PC*MILER(R) routing and mapping fleet solutions are used by over 22,000 transportation, logistics and manufacturing companies worldwide. Find out more about ALK Technologies and CoPilot Live navigation at http://www.copilotlive.com

About HTC

Founded in 1997, HTC Corporation (HTC) is a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design. Since its establishment, HTC has developed strong RD capabilities, pioneered many new designs and product innovations and launched state-of-the-art mobile phones for mobile operators and distributors in Europe, the US, Asia and around the world. HTC is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile device market. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit http://www.htc.com.

The names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

ALK / CoPilot media contact: Laura Macdonald - laura.macdonald@skywritecomms.com +44(0)20-7608-4645

ALK / CoPilot media contact:Helene Luis - hluis@alk.com, Laura Macdonald - laura.macdonald@skywritecomms.com, +44(0)20-7608-4645; HTC media contact: Alison Blackman - alison_blackman@htc.com