The newly announced application from Google to take on turn by turn navigation created a quick response from the market. Gps nav companies have seen their share prices in average of 18%.

The new app targeted at mobile users is certainly a good improvement to Google Map, and like a lot of Google services will be free.

The first videos of the navigation software in action are actually very impressive and we don’t see anyone going for a more dedicated solution if the Gps nav companies don’t up the game.

The point for Google is of course to get more interest for its Phone OS Android, which is already getting more and more market share and saved a few companies like Motorola.

While everything seems to tell us the worst of the recession is over we are still not seeing any major improvement of consumer spending and unemployment.

The situation could well set a bleak Christmas period of the likes of last year, when 14 major retailers went into administration.

The Christmas period is of course the most profitable for many businesses and if we face the same situation as last year we might well see some more retailers closing down in our shopping centres.

The online retail sector seems to be less affected by lower spending which might force some shop to look into expending their online presence to overcome this difficult time.