Edible Apple

From a BusinessWeek article discussing some of the innovative OS features of the Palm Pre:

So Palm set out to create software that would require no synching with a PC, and that would solve problems only a phone in your pocket could solve. For example, because the devices would combine access to GPS, online maps, and your contact list, Palm phones could ascertain when you were running late for a meeting even before you did—and could be programmed to send an e-mail to let your host or an associate know your ETA.

While this is certainly cool in theory, would anyone actually want to use this?  Also, how would it accurately calculate your ETA without first knowing if you were taking a bus, train, or car.  And how would it know your ETA if it has no idea when you’ll actually be leaving out the front door?  Unless I’m missing something here, the feature figures out where you are via GPS, and since it already knows where you need to be, it then calculates how long it’ll take you to travel that distance.  But you might be leaving in 5 minutes, or 50 minutes, and maybe you decided to bike to work today.  Essentially, all you’re really left with is a feature that tells you how long the travel distance is between 2 locations, which is hardly an innovative feature at all.