CoPilot Live for iPhone now $5, gets free updates

What began as a $35 its life as app is now costs $5. ALK Technologies has announced CoPilot Live USA, one of many--and sometimes confusing--versions of its CoPilot navigation app for iPhone that distinguishes itself with its $4.99 introductory price tag.

For your crisp digital fin*, you get voice guided GPS turn-by-turn navigation, street-level 3D and 2D maps of the United States stored locally on your iPhone, access to the free ALK MapSure service that provides monthly map improvement updates downloaded directly to the iPhone, and a completely new updated map of USA every quarter of the year, through the end of the year. CoPilot Live USA also has Live Local Search for POIs, graphic lane assist, multistop trip planning, in-app Facebook updating, and iPod music controls.

It sounds like a great deal, so what's the catch? Well, if you want text-to-speech for spoken street names in your turn-by-turn directions, you'll have to buy it as a $2.99 one time in-app purchase. If you want access to traffic and fuel prices? That'll be an additional $19.99 per year. Users who occasionally visit our friends to the North will also have to shell out an additional $15.99 for Canadian maps.

To be fair, all versions of CoPilot Live charge for traffic and fuel prices and all in-app purchases are optional. If you don't need traffic or test-to-speech, you will end up with a pretty good, full-featured navigation app with free map updates for about the cost of a value meal. You can download CoPilot Live USA in the iPhone App Store.

*Fun fact: The $5 bill is sometimes called a "fin."