Update: The device is available, and on sale. Microsoft, for some odd reason had it buried somewhere on the website. Mark gave us a heads up, so we tip our hat to him. It costs $129 and you can get it off Amazon, Circuit City and a couple of other outlets!

Looks like Microsoft is getting into the business of making global positioning systems. The device called, the GPS Locator is combined with the latest version of Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005, the popular travel and mapping software for the United States and Canada. It is powered by SiRF’s SiRFstarIIe/LP GPS chipset. “Microsoft’s decision to include a GPS receiver with its software is evidence that demand for GPS functionality is in the mainstream,” according to Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing for SiRF Technology. I am pretty sure this won’t be a long lasting device. Despite making great hardware (have you tried them Starck mice?) Microsoft does not stick around very long. For instance, I loved their WiFi equipment, but they couldn’t crack the market. I hope they have more success with this GPS device. I think the whole trend of commoditization is allowing companies like Microsoft to use cheap hardware to push the sales of their software, in this case the Microsoft Streets & Trips.