BusinessWeek’s Stephen Wildstrom explains why iPhone navigation applications are so expensive:

[Y]ou need a source of maps and a data base of directions, driving instructions, and points of interest. There are two main sources of maps, Navteq (owned by Nokia) and Tele Atlas (a TomTom unit) and they aren’t cheap. The companies selling navigation services cannot simply build on top of the Google Maps application built into the iPhone and many other smartphones because Google’s terms of service specifically prohibit its use for real-time navigation. There’s a simple reason for this: Google’s own arrangements with the map suppliers prohibit such uses. And of course, navigation services, whether on-board or network based, entail an assortment of other costs.

Via MyAppleMenu.

One recently announced example of this is Navigon’s MobileNavigator Europe (iTunes link), the introductory price for which is $95. Mind you, it’s a 1.65-gigabyte download — a lot of mapping data to licence from Navteq. Via Gizmodo, Mapperz and TUAW.