Navx

Boom predicted for GPS-enabled handsets

Analysts have predicted that  the number of GPS-enabled handsets is set to more than triple during the next five years and as we discussed here (#7-How will the GPS phone market evolve in the next 3 years), they expect an abundance of new models supporting GPS from all major brands this year.

According to the latest report of Berg Insight, there would be 560 million handsets using the Global Positioning System worldwide in 2012, compared with 175 million units in 2007. The report also says that while there were roughly 5 million GPS-enabled handsets in Europe in 2007, the figure would reach 90 million in 2012.

In other words, GPS is going to be a must-have in all high-end handsets and location based services of mobile phones will soon go far beyond navigation. The availability of accurate position data in mobile devices creates exciting new opportunities for developers of local search, navigation and social networking applications and content providers like NAVX.

technorati tags: GPS-enabled handsets GPS phone market

Navigon's online platform: Fresh

Navigon has announced the future launch of its content and services platform called  Navigon Fresh. (Available in the spring in North America). The objectif is to provide users exclusive content and services, and support Navigon's user community with updated information.

We have already talked about the key strategic concerns of PND players here. Content is king for the navigation market: It's a way to keep customers and attract new customers.

technorati tags: navigon fresh content gps 

#9-Will LBS services finally take off, how and on which platform ?

We have heard of Location-Based Services (LBS) for years, but the market never really took off. At NAVX, we think the time is now ripe for LBS : GPS chips are now cheap and precise, geolocalisation is widespread thanks to TomTom and its competitors, maps are commonly used on the web thanks to Google Earth and its mash-ups, car navigation is a killer app, and ... GPS phones are about to hit the European market.

Location-Based Services are about finding a person, a place, an information or a thing relative to the user’s current location.  And we can imagine the following services :

• Mobile search
• Dynamic content push & pull (such as gas prices, speedcams, parking availability, etc)
• Mobile reservation/ booking
• Peer-to-Peer/ Community interactions
• Security Packages (knowing about the whereabouts and safety of spouses, children, relatives, and even pets)
• Live traffic information and floating car data
• Location Based Gaming Market
• Mobile Social Networking  (buddy location..etc)
• Geotagging  
• Mobile Geo-advertising
• etc

On which platforms these services could be used ? Specifically on cell phones, providing navigation beyond the vehicle, allowing access to various LBS apps, with the largest potential addressible market in terms of price/fonctionality (remember that 80 millions GPS phones will be sold in Europe in 2009 according to Berg Insight). But also on connected PNDs, which will allow users not only to receive updated and personalised information in their car, but also to transmit data back to the server and share them.

We think there are three key factors for LBS to be a success :

• Focus on specific customer needs, even if they look like a niche (security, finding your pals, get alerted, etc)
• Launch lots of applications and test them on customers (no one knows which one will really get traction)
• Integrate LBS seamlessly in the phones and PNDs

#8- Why did Nokia buy Navteq

We have already talked about Nokia buying Navteq for $8.1 billion, a spotlight on the navigation industry that was quickly followed by a bidding war for Tele Atlas, Navteq's only global rival in mapmaking.

For a GPS maker, it's important to be in a good relationship with its map provider and better to have it in-house :) But this is also important for a cell phone maker if location-based services are one of the cornerstones of its strategy.

Nokia already showed in 2006 its objective to become an integrated player in the navigation market by acquiring  Gate5, a European navigation software supplier. With the recent acquisition of Navteq, we understand that Nokia wants to move from a phone-making model to a service-making model by offering consumers maps, routing, navigation and other location-based applications on its mobile devices.

As recently announced here :  Nokia would target pedestrians, leave the car-navigation market to others, and work on maps improvements with the help of communities : think about hundreds of millions of Nokia phone users worldwide keeping the maps up-to-date. It's a big media-capture device which means people can capture content, put it on the map and share it with others. 

We already discussed it here,  Berg Insight  expects a high growth on the US and European markets for maps and navigation in handsets. Mobile subscribers accessing maps and downloading routes using their mobile handsets in Europe and the USA are expected to grow from 4 million users in 2007 to 43 million users in 2012 !

Clearly, Nokia which was looking for new sources of revenues as the cell phone industry matures is on its way to focus on handset-based mapping, turn-by-turn navigation services and connected devices with Gate5 and Navteq. 

#7-How will the GPS phone market evolve in the next 3 years ?

The two principal functions of mobile phones have been picture taking and music playing. Today the satellite navigation is expected to be the must-have feature: research suggests that 25% of mobile phones will have GPS by 2010. 

In the United States, a large number of mobile phones have integrated GPS chips for security reasons, to pinpoint user's location when they are in danger. But theses chips can also be the support of various location based services. Nokia and Motorola have already introduced their navigation enabled handset for the mass market, so far the sells going well : apparently PNDs don't have a negative impact on GPS enabled phones growth rate (we have talked about it here) and we expect that growth to continue in the next years. 

The most obvious service of GPS enabled phones is turn-by-turn navigation, which provides directions simply by allowing users to type a destination.Satellites locate the GPS-enabled device and map the device's location to the destination.A map can be then generated on the user's screen, along with text based directions. So the key factor for GPS phones is to keep the map up to date : See #8-Why did Nokia buy Navteq :-)

But location based services of mobile phones will soon go far beyond navigation :

• Mobile search will become a standard feature on all handsets over the next three years.
• Mobile Social Networking will be a killer application (social networking : "finding friends and meeting new ones", receiving alerts when a friend is close by, ect)
• Geotagging: Internet and maps will allow people to upload pictures, videos and sound clips recorded with their phones that are automatically encoded with the location where the picture was taken or the recording was made 
• Mobile Geo-advertising : according Telephia's report, mobile video revenues in Q1 2007 increased 198% over the previous year, and mobile video users had the best ad recall of any mobile data user group. With LBS, mobile ads will be adopted on a large scale.

#6- Will smartphones cannibalize PNDs ?

That's the usual question about convergence. Will the smartphone be the swiss army knife, leaving PNDs in the dust and grabing the automotive market ? Well, our most regular readers know that we do not quite believe in convergence, but rather in divergence.

Basically, we expect smartphones and PNDs to co-exist for quite some time without having a major negative impact on PND's growth rate. Because :

• PNDs have the best form factor for car navigation because of their larger screens, ease of use, reduced number of clics to activate any navigation function (try to configure your GPS phone navigator while driving ... or rather DON'T TRY).

• While PNDs are excellent for car navigation, smartphones are great for pedestrians. We expect the two products to diverge also in terms of maps. Pedestrians need more information about altitude, stairs, what's going on around a position, etc, while car drivers need to know the speed limit, the traffic congestion, gas prices, speedcams locations, etc.

• Three years ago, high resolution camera phones didn't really cannibalise digital camera sales. Sales of digital cameras have been quite strong recently, and it's common for consumers to have both of them. We think that it would be similar  for PNDs and smartphones, one will have both devices.

So, to summarize: GPS phones are a new category of product, aimed at a pedestrian usage. They will complement PNDs, which will be focused on car navigation, and sooner or later be connected as well.

#5 -When will we see connected PNDs and are they relevant ?

It's just now ! The world’s first portable navigation devices with integrated GPRS modem and SIM cards was the TomTom Go 715, a product targeting companies with fleets of cars. Dash is launching an upgraded version of its solution in the US. Now, with the new XL HD, TomTom is targeting the mass market, with live traffic information. And be sure that connectivity is on the horizon for other brands of PNDs as well.

A connected device will allow users not only to receive updated and personalised information, but also to transmit data back to the server and share them.

This functionnality opens an avenue of services: 

• Live traffic information and floating car data
• Map updates (such as TomTom's Mapshare)
  
• Internet browsing and local search
• Peer-to-Peer/ Community interactions
• Dynamic content push & pull (such as gas prices, speedcams, parking availability, etc)
  
• Buddy location
• Live location-based services
• etc

In october 2006, NAVX tested a service on a TomTom 910 which provided live information on parking spots. We had to connect the 910 to a GPRS phone through a bluetooth connection. Imagine what we can do now that a TomTom XL HD provides a seamless connectivity :-) !

Garmin leaves the bidding war ?

Breaking news from Le Monde :
Garmin announced it wouldn't bid higher for TeleAtlas: with this announcement TomTom shares jumped more than 8%  while Tele Atlas shares lost 9% on the Amsterdam exchanges.

memo : We had announced it here, TomTom offered 30€ a share, valuing Tele Atlas at around 2.9 billion euro, easily topping the 24.5€ per share bid made on Oct. 31 by its U.S. rival Garmin which valued the company at 2.3 billion euro. But apparently Garmin leaves the battle, without raising the offer.

technorati tags: TomTom Teleatlas Garmin 

#4 - What are the key strategic concerns of PND players for the next 3-5 years ?

We continue our review of the 10 most critical questions. Here are the concerns we think PND players will face in the near future :

As the navigation market will continue to grow, PND manufacturers will need to address both first-time buyers and replacement buyers.

We think a key strategic objective will be therefore to offer inexpensive and basic devices so that first-time buyers can access car navigation.

Now, the second key objective is to get customers to keep buying the same brand, and ideally a higher-priced product. So, PND manufacturers will have to propose attractive multi-fonctions PNDs. But they will also have to give good reasons to buy them.

This leads to the third objective, and probably the most important: increase the stickiness of their products. As we expect PNDs to be connected (see #1), we believe PND players need to invest in content and community services to create a pipeline of services based on real-time traffic information,  gas prices information, enriched points of interests, user-generated content.

As we see today with the current Tomtom/Garmin battle for TeleAtlas, content is king. And beyond maps, there is an increasing need for relevant, personalized, enriched information right in your GPS.

TomTom bids about €2.9 billion for Tele Atlas

TomTom turns up the heat in the battle for digital mapmake Tele Atlas by raising its proposed takeover offer to trump a competing offer from  Garmin !

TomTom said it will offer 30€ a share, valuing Tele Atlas at around 2.9 billion euro, easily topping the 24.5€ per share bid made on Oct. 31 by its U.S. rival Garmin which valued the company at 2.3 billion euro.

We expect now Garmin to come back with an even higher offer and Tomtom to reach 35€.

So it's getting really hot : Let's wait for Garmin's answer !!

#3 - Why does TomTom want to buy TeleAtlas ?

When TomTom announced last July that it has agreed to acquire Tele Atlas for $2.77 billion, the navigation industry praised the bold move and wondered about the rational behind. Is it an offensive move or rather a defensive one ? We believe there are four good reasons:

• Mapshare: TomTom believes in leveraging its huge community to update maps with its mapshare technology. The only way to be allowed to change the maps is actually... to own them. TomTom then hope to generate the most updated maps ever.
• Growth: one of the most promising markets for the next 5 years are also the less covered by map providers: Latin America and South Asia. Buying a map provider would provide TomTom an opportunity to speed up coverage.
• Content: with declining hardware margins and battles on price, GPS manufacturers are eager to generate recurring revenues and improve differenciation. Content will be the king to achieve these goals: dynamic points of interests and user-generated content should soon complement the current content offer from Navteq and TeleAtlas. And acquiring one of them is a way to move up the value chain.
• New market: GPS phones are about to hit the market, each of them with a map and a navigator. Owning the map, TomTom will grab a substantial piece of the market.

This move has now triggered a battle between TomTom and Garmin. The latter (as reported here) is now making an agressive counter offer. We should know this week how TomTom will react. And if the original move was offensive, TomTom is clearly now on the defensive side !

technorati tags: TomTom TeleAtlas GPS mapshare navigation

#2 - Will the current dominant PND players be threatened by new entrants ?

The European market is today dominated by 3 manufacturers: TomTom (48% of sales), Garmin (19%) and Mitac (16%) with its two brands Mio and Navman. In the US, Garmin leads (52%), followed by Magellan (16%) and TomTom (20%).

So, basically, the worldwide PND market is controlled by 4 manufacturers. Is there any chance they could be threatened by new entrants ? Two types of companies could be envisionned: big consumer electronics companies (Philips, LG, Sony, etc) and major car-entertainment suppliers (Pioneer, Becker, Alpine, etc).

Well, here is our guess:

1. Consumer Electronics companies : they tried to enter the market, in particular Sony and Philips. The latter already stopped its PND operations. Even if they have the power and brand necessary to penetrate the market, we don't think they will be willing to in the short-medium term. However, keep an eye on Nav N Go. They probably have the best independent navigation software on the market, and are agressively pushing it towards CE companies of all sorts !
2. Car-entertainment suppliers: their products are costly, although well integrated in the dash board. However, PND manufacturers are already succesfully entering the car-fitted market. TomTom signed an agreement with Toyota to provide GPS to the Yaris, and acquired Siemens VDO's navigation arm. We expect PND manufacturers to work more closely with the automotive industry and improve the integration with the car.

So, is the real threat coming from GPS phones ? We'll look at that question very soon. Keep in touch !

#1 - How will the PND market grow in the next 5 years ?

We start our review of the 10 most critical questions by one about growth. PNDs have been one of the great consumer electronics success stories of the past two years (remember TomTom reporting revenue growth of 89% for financial year 2006 and continued growth in 2007). But how long can it last ? 

A new report from Juniper Research estimates that revenues from portable navigation solutions, including PNDs and software solutions will exceed €8.3 billion in Western Europe by 2012 (that's about twice as much as today). According to ABN Amro, 16 millions PNDs will be shipped in Europe in 2007, growing to 31 millions in 2011.

Growth has been mainly driven by price elasticity, with sales increasing as prices were falling rapidly. With very good products priced at 200€, the market boomed, and we are likely to see products hitting Xmas under the 100€ price tag.

Innovation will now heavily sustain growth: we expect PNDs to include real-time traffic information, to be connected, and to include community-based services centered around map upgrades (see TomTom's mapshare) and geolocalized content (watch NAVX !). This will provide GPS users good reasons to upgrade to new and better devices.

The market will continue to grow in the next 5 years, with inexpensive entry level devices stimulating first time buyers and a large offer of more sophisticated devices contributing to transform the market into a replacement market.

 

technorati tags: TomTom Garmin PND GPS navigation mobile phone PDA 

The 10 most crucial questions about the navigation market

The navigation market has been gaining a lot of traction in the last 12 months. As we meet with GPS manufacturers, navigation software editors, financial analysts and VCs, we keep hearing the same questions about where the industry is heading.

We have listed below what we think are the 10 most important questions. In the next two weeks, we will humbly provide our answers and we hope to trigger discussions on the blog. And if you think of any other relevant question, please feel free to ask them, we’ll try to give you our best answer.

1. How will the PND market grow in the next 5 years ?
2. Will the current dominant PND players be threatened by new entrants ?
3. Why does TomTom want to buy TeleAtlas ?
4. What are the key strategic concerns of PND players for the next 3-5 years ?
5. When will we see connected PNDs and are they relevant ?
6. Will smartphones cannibalize PNDs ?
7. How will the GPS phone market evolve in the next 3 years ?
8. Why did Nokia buy Navteq ?
9. Will LBS services finally take off, how and on which platform ?
10. How will the GPS business consolidate ?

technorati tags: GPS Smartphones navigation market

They want Mobile Phone GPS

TeleAtlas announced the results of  a consumer study about Wireless GPS : It's not the big surprise, Mobile Phone navigation is going to be in high demand.

The study shows that the vast majority (84%) of consumers surveyed that a GPS navigation on their phone was a good idea, nearly 75% want to use the device to find points of interest (POIs) and 68 % want access to their current location via a detailed map.

(But according to the results, those who already have a navigation system would not replace their current system after the acquisition of such a GPS- enabled cell phone; rather, users would leverage both systems !)

There is also a market demand for LBS and "locator" services: 84% of respondents are interested in "child locator" services that would show a detailed route to where their child is currently, and 47 % interested in "friend locator" services.

So, the study confirms that people want GPS in their mobile phone and they are interested in GPS applications that provide rich and dynamic content. Cool.

Click here to read the press release.

technorati tags: Teleatlas mobile navigation GPS mobile phone

Microsoft eyeing-buying Garmin ?

Rumors have been flying all week that Garmin may be purchased by Microsoft, and it's not only message board speculation, there is now a link of reference : Information Week published this article about the rumored acquisition !

One of the argument is that Microsoft's been working hard recently to get Windows Mobile onto as many phones as possible, and navigation technology could be important for the future of that strategy.
Also, Garmin who is already in partnership with Microsoft to offer features such as updated gas prices, weather conditions and forecasts etc.

All that said, Garmin would be a huge purchase for Microsoft whose large acquisition has been $6 billion (for an ad company in may). Garmin's current market cap is almost $24 billion (more than 3 times of Navteq). So..let's just wish good luck to Microsoft.

ps. Reactions ? In message boards, lots of message that say "please dont let this deal happen, I want to use Garmin GPS,  not Microsoft GPS". Calm down guys, nothing's sure at the moment.

 technorati tags: Microsoft Garmin GPS navigation

Location, location, location

This week, personal navigation is again on the Economist. TomTom and its main rival Garmin make nearly half of all PND's but the article says that "their dominance and profitability  is unlikely to persist". That means PNDs will soon become commodity ? No according to the big GPS manufacturers but yes according to the Economist : PNDs prices have already dropped while Nokia and other start-ups like Dash begun to shake up the market. 

Of course the big bet for PNDs now is the supplementary services rather than basic navigation systems: real-time traffic information, fuel prices or screening times at cinemas...But Nokia have also interesting offerings like geo-tagging (users of Nokia will be able to write a review of restaurants that others can read) etc. So both Nokia and TomTom need enthusiastic subscribers to update and improve their maps, and above all, to control the maps they use (so that they don't fall into the hands of Microsoft and Google) to keep a big share of the revenue generated by location-based services.
Meanwhile they seem to close their eyes to the nascent open-map movement : You know that there is a website called "OpenStreetMap" to create a detailed, free map of the world -if there is enough users.
But this would be sad and a bit overpriced for TomTom and Nokia's acquisitions, no ? 

technorati tags: PND GPS nokia tomtom navigation map 

Nokia to Acquire Navteq

This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that Nokia was deep in talks to buy digital map supplier Navteq: The acquisition of Chicago-based Navteq, which has a market capitalization of $7.6 billion, would be one of Nokia's largest-ever corporate takeovers.

In fact the two companies are not new to each other, they have already a business relationship as Navteq provides information for Nokia's mobile phones. Anyway, Nokia's interest in Navteq represents a big move into the mobile-services arena, a reflection of its aggressive push into the mobile services, beyond its current suite of offerings related to games and music. Remember that Nokia has recently announced plans to move more into mobile content and services, including further development of its Nokia Maps service.

Nokia and Navteq declined to comment, so we just have to wait and see.

EDIT : It's over. They announced a definitive agreement for Nokia to acquire Navteq !! You can see the press release, here.

ps. Yes, Nokia will pay approximately $8.1 billion (€5.7 billion) net of NAVTEQ existing cash balance. 

technorati tags: Nokia Navteq mobile navigation maps

Tele Atlas launches scenic road content in the US

Tele Atlas announced yesterday the launch of "Tele Atlas Touring Series", a digital map product featuring content and scenic route information from the popular “Get Outta Town” series from MAD MAPS, a specialist of scenic touring in the United States.

MAD Maps has launched “Get Outta Town” maps last year so that americans escape from the hustle and bustle of crowded subways and noisy streets to quieter, more scenic and out-of-the-ordinary roads.  And now Tele Atlas,  the leading provider of digital maps offers these scenic road trip maps with valuable route and point of interest like great roadside diners, fresh food farm stands, charming old town inns and award winning wineries to its users.

TeleAtlas Touring series shows the rising importance of personalized navigation offering : that means in the very near futur, we'll see a lot of collaboration between the leading map providers and companies specialized in GPS contents and services, like Navx :-)

ps. Tele Atlas Touring Series are currently available for 30 U.S. cities, including Boston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Each series will feature five to seven routes for scenic road trips to help guide digital map users on a variety of excursions with turn-by-turn directions and a range of POIs such as local roadhouses, roadside attractions and recreational areas.

You can see the press release, here.  

technorati tags: TeleAtlas navigation maps Mad Maps GPS

handset navigation users will reach 43 million in 2012

In this new market report, Berg Insight forecasts a high growth on the US and European markets for maps and navigation in handsets. Let's see numbers : mobile subscribers accessing maps and downloading routes using their mobile handsets in Europe and the USA is expected to grow from 4 million users in 2007 to 43 million users in 2012 !

This growth makes sens with the introduction of GPS-technology in smartphone handsets and bundling of navigation and map content with mobile devices. Today, PND continues to dominate the navigation market but more and more handset owners discover handset-based mapping and turn-by-turn navigation services (which are increasingly being integrated into one service with a common user interface).

So in the future handset navigation services will also complement other personal navigation solutions, like the use outside the car (pedestrians, commuters and travellers..) New solutions will also require new services - like advertisement funded services. According to the report, ad-funded services will account for an increasing share of the mobile navigation market. Navigation fits perfectly with local search applications that offer completely new opportunities for advertisers to target consumers in novel ways.  Anyway the mobile industry players have to embrace the ad-funded service model in order to stay competitive on the emerging market.

Find out more about this report here.

technorati tags: PND PDA navigation mobile GPS

"SFR Navigation" with Mappy !

A first in GPS navigation market : French mobile operator SFR is establishing a partnership with Mappy to launch unlimited GPS navigation offer on mobile !

This collaboration is a great step into the french market because mobile network operators have only recently begun offering navigation services in Europe. (At the end of Q1 2006, less than 20 out of around 70 mobile operators in Western and central Europe had launched off-board navigation services. In the US though, two out of four nationwide operators representing almost 50 percent of the total wireless customer base have launched navigation services )

So the "SFR navigation" integrates all GPS features like real time traffic information, fixed and mobile radars, itinerary calculations for pedestrian mode, points of interests..(Remember that  Mappy worked also with Appello, a sweden provider of mobile GPS navigation services  on online mobile navigation on java technology-maybe just to be prepared for this collaboration ?).

The  "SFR navigation" will be offered on Blackberry Curve 8310 (enjoy the presentation video here)   

ps. The subscription price is really cool : 2€ per month for 12 hours of navigation, or 9.90€ illimited !

technorati tags: sfr mappy appello gps navigation 

The Travel Channel Partners with Tele Atlas

Tele Atlas and Travel Channel Media announced an exclusive agreement to make rich text, audio and visual content from the Travel Channel available for Tele Atlas digital map users worldwide. That's an important announcement concerning navigation systems : it means that we won't have just an adress and phone number of a POI but also videos and images.

“Navigation offerings are expanding to deliver ‘infotainment’ that includes rich location-based audio and video media, which is fueling an exciting, unique end-user experience,” said Basak Ozer, vice president, global product marketing, Tele Atlas. “Collaborating with the Travel Channel further enables us to help infuse our partners’ applications and devices with vibrant content from a dedicated and trusted authority and we’re excited to foster the Travel Channel’s interaction with their existing and new audiences in a new medium.”

You can see the press relase, here.

technorati tags: TeleAtlas navigation Travel Channel Media

Using a GPS in Spain ? €300 and three points, please.

Spanish traffic authority (DGT) is studying a new law to fine drivers using their GPS navigation while their vehicle is in motion ! 1.3 million GPS navigation devices will be sold in Spain in 2007 and DGT wants the fine to be €300 as well as three points removed from the driving license. Interesting :)

The DGT also intends to contact GPS navigation manufacturers asking them to modify their software in order to prevent its use while the vehicle is in motion ! Good luck.

via

technorati tags: GPS navigation DGT 

GPS for Dummies !

Everyone knows the series of books "For Dummies" right ? Well, book publishers start manufacturing personal navigation devices now : there will be soon a GPS navigation device with a 3.5″ touch screen called "GPS Navigation For Dummies" !

The device is also known as FD-35, it's co-developed by Wiley Publishing (owner of the For Dummies brand) and the Maylong Group, a Detroit-area technology company.

The manufacturer claims it to be "the easiest and most intuitive PND on the market!" . We'll see about it in 3-4 months, when it begins shipping.    

technorati tags: GPS navigation for dummies

Wayfinder Acquires Navicore

Wayfinder and Navicore have announced the acquisition of the Finnish navigation company Navicore by Wayfinder ! This acquisition is a big step for Wayfinder, whose strategy is to have a complete and outstanding offering to handset and multimedia device manufactures as well as operators around the world. As Navicore is the provider of interactive on-board navigation products for smart phones and Nokia Internet tablets, Wayfinder will be able to benefit from Navicore competence and solidify its market leadership by offering location applications  concerning services on all major platforms in connected mobile devices !

Press release here.

technorati tags: Wayfinder Navicore 

Apple building GPS navigation for Mercedes ?

According to German magazine Focus, Apple is (secretly) working on a navigation system to debut in Mercedes vehicles during 2009 ! This will be exclusively available from Mercedes, but 6 months later the other vendors are allowed to follow.

Apple will (maybe) use Google Maps for their navigation solution as on the iPhone, but until now that's only speculation. It's really a great move from Apple, but the question is the same (see also Fourspring): Why start with such an old-fashioned and boring brand?

Read the Google-translated story here. See engadget here.   

technorati tags: apple GPS mercedes focus navigation google maps

iPhone to get GPS in 2008 ?

What the rumor says: the next generation iPhone which will probably be announced in spring 2008 at Macworld will incorporate a SiRF Star III chip!

According to this source, Apple is certain to use a chipset using Assisted GPS technology(A-GPS), which helps the device for a fast satellite fix by getting some help from cell phone towers.

technorati tags: iPhone GPS navigation satellite Macworld

JVC exits GPS/PND market

JVC has announced plans to quit the GPS market. The company is no longer manufacturing its eAvinu KV-PX9 (originally at a suggested $749), and will focus instead on the auto in-dash navigation market.
The raison they opted to focus the business on the in-dash market is primarily because the portable navigation business has turned into a price-only market with numerous new competitors entering almost daily, according to JVC mobile entertainment VP Bill Turner. He also said that they continue to study the portable navigation market and may re-enter it once they identify stabilization with regard to price points.
Look here and here for more info.

technorati tags: GPS portable navigation market  JVC 

GPS enabled umbrella. What else ?

Yes, an umbrella has only one purpose: to keep you dry while everything else is wet.

Yes, the photo is weird.

But no, those Japanese don’t agree, do you know why? Because they have created an umbrella with GPS, Internet connectivity, projector and Flickr synchronization.

Here’s what it can do: take pictures, upload them on Flickr, browse web for other pictures, display current position on Google Maps and slideshow your pictures.

You don't believe ? Click to see the video of this "very interesting" prototype.

technorati tags: GPS Internet projector Flickr synchronization

EU: "Dead-end street" for Galileo project ?

According to European Union, the Galileo project -- Europe's rival to the U.S. Global Positioning System, GPS -- is in deep crisis and will require more public funds to get back on track. The problem is that that the companies still have not agreed on the way forward : companies from France, Germany, Spain, Britain and Italy has been given until thursday to set up a joint legal entity to run the project or risk losing control of it. And more important, financial problems: the Galileo project have to find another form of financing, of distributing the cost within a public-private partnership.

We remember that only one out of 30 planned satellites in the system has been launched in December 2005.

Click here to read LesEchos's article and here for Cnn's.

technorati tags: Galileo Global Positioning System

Sanef acquires Webraska

An important strategic move for French highway and Telematics operator : Sanef acquires Webraska to complement the Telematics offering of the group, which already includes Masternaut and Eurotoll !

WEBRASKA is one of the leading providers of mobile GPS navigation solutions and high-end geospatial software platforms with customers such as  Orange, Vodafone, TMN, Qualcomm and Sensis. The company has two main product lines : Mobile GPS navigation solutions and powerful geospatial platforms,including a mapping server with address geocoding, dynamic map rendering, optimized multimodal routing for car, pedestrian and public transportation.

The acquisition of Webraska allows the Sanef group (a leading transport and telecom infrastructure management operator in Europe) to enter the satellite navigation market to offer a complete service platform combining real-time positioning from Masternaut, electronic road tolling  from Eurotoll and traffic information and geospatial technologies from Webraska.

With this acquisition, Sanef is now positioned as one of the largest providers of Telematics solutions in Europe with a complete offering going from fleet management and satellite navigation to traffic information and electronic toll collection. via.

technorati tags: Sanef telematics Webraska Masternaut Eurotoll

Panasonic announces STRADA CN-NVD905U

Panasonic announced today the Strada  CN-NVD905U, the first navigation system of the company offered to the U.S. market.

The Strada CN-NVD905U comes with 12 million searchable POIs (gas stations, airports, hotels, restaurants...), an integrated 7-inch (diagonal) touch panel LCD screen and the NAVTEQ maps for the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and real time traffic information broadcast by Sirius. The funny thing is  Panasonic GPS navigation system has the ability to play other digital media files while navigating. It can play DVD’s, XM and Sirius radios, CD’s, MP3, WMAs as well as your home made DVD-R/RW discs.

You can watch a video of the device here, and have tech details there. After that, you will understand why it costs $1800 :-)

technorati tags: Panasonic GPS STRADA CN-NVD905U

TomTom interested in mobile phone market

TomTom, the Europe's market leader in portable navigation devices plans to develop its services by offering in-car GPS . The general manager Harold Goddijin declared to Reuters that TomTom is also interested in the mobile phone market. We saw this coming, no ? There have been speculations about the dutch navigation systems company moving into the GPS handset segment and apprently it's true ! The fact that a leader PND manufacturer like TomTom  making a move into the GPS-enabled cell phone market, and built-in navigation device sector collaborating with different car manufacturers, gives some ideas for the next generations navigation systems.

technorati tags: TomTom navigation GPS mobile phone in-car navigation

Dash Navigation Secures $25 Million in Series B Funding

Dash Navigation Inc. , the firm developing automotive navigation and location-based services, has received $25 million in its second round of funding. Mountain View-based Dash said the infusion will position the company for a national launch of its Internet-connected automotive GPS device this fall.  This announcement comes on the heels of the company's successful appearance at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last month with "Best of Show" wins from CNET and LAPTOP Magazine. See the press release here.

technorati tags: Dash navigation GPS funding

TomTom's new GO with SIM card

According to some rumors, TomTom is working on a new TomTom GO device with SIM card and talking to various Telecom operators to start a TomTom branded MVNO in Europe to cover all European countries. MVNO means  "Mobile virtual network operator" and this is for companies that resell wireless service under their own brand name, using the network of another mobile phone operator. It's something that has not been done before because every MVNO is generally local. The new TomTom GO devices with SIM slots will probably be used for navigation and receiving weather and traffic updates and be available before summer. We have to wait and see. More info here and here.

technorati tags: MVNO TomTom GO SIM card

Mitac buys Navman from Brunswick

Big move in the GPS business with the announcement that Brunswick had agreed to sell Navman to Mitac !IT hardware and mobile device manufacturer MiTAC International is a maker of PNDs which are sold under the company's own brand, Mio. Brunswick had bought Navman from the founders in June of 2003. So we can say that despite booming market growth, Navman has struggled in a market dominated by Garmin and TomTom : In Europe, Mitac is currently on the third rank on the navigation systems market, in front of Navman. (according Canalys, read here)  By combining Mio and Navman, the taiwanese group would obtain a share of market consolidated of 20%, and this is  enough to dislodge Garmin (11%) and to position after TomTom(37%).

More info here and here .

technorati tags: Mitac Navman GPS business

Blaupunkt and Kenwood together in Portable Navigation

Blaupunkt, a company belonging to the Bosch group and the Japanese electronics corporation Kenwood, are planning to form a partnership for Portable Navigation Devices.  Blaupunkt and Kenwood are leading suppliers of car audio and multimedia systems, and we have to wait until 2008 to see their PND's !

Proof that the PND solution is winning the Navigation market !

Wal-Mart stopping GPS sales?

Wal-Mart, the American retailer and one of the lowest priced outlets for GPS, is considering dropping GPS devices from its product line-up ! According to DigiTimes Systems, Wal-Mart is unhappy with the large number of returns on the units:  40% of GPS units are returned. The return rate being much higher than other electronics products, it's not very profitable.

Apparently other outlets like Best Buy and Circuit City are starting to limit the return period to 14 days after purchase instead of the usual 30 days...

Is this US specific ? Do we see similar return rates in Europe ? What are the main reasons for returning a GPS ? We'll investigate !

Who will buy Navman ?

C'est la question qu’on se pose depuis avril dernier (voir notre note précédente ici ), puisque Brunswick avait annoncé vouloir se séparer de sa filiale. L’accélération du marché des PDNs, la concurrence effrénée entre fabricants et l’entrée en force des fabricants asiatiques, nécessitaient des efforts que Brunswick ne souhaitait probablement pas consacrer. L’absence de repreneur depuis 8 mois ont certainement causé un tort important à Navman, créant un climat peu propice à la mise en œuvre d’une stratégie agressive, et suscitant le départ de nombreux talents. C’est en tout cas ce que laisse entendre Peter Maire, le fondateur de Navman (voir ici).

La rumeur persistante indiquerait qu’un fond d’investissement européen serait prêt à saisir l’occasion. Ce serait une bonne nouvelle pour les équipes Navman, dont les produits restent des GPS de qualité, et dont les efforts de différenciation ont été salués (rappelez-vous de leur appareil GPS-photo, le N40i).

Mouvements financiers chez les fabricants 2nde monte

Le groupe Hitachi souhaite se renforcer au sein du capital de la société Clarion, équipementier automobile.

Hitachi, qui détenait déjà 14% de Clarion, a annoncé la semaine dernière une OPA pour monter au moins à 50%. Suite à cette montée au capital, Hitachi passerait à Clarion sa filiale Xanavi Informatics, aujourd'hui concurrente de Clarian.

La rumeur courre que Alpine & Kenwood pourraient devenir les cibles de prochains projets de rapprochement.

25% des mobiles 3G équipés de GPS en 2008

Selon le cabinet d'étude ABI Research, 25% des mobiles 3G commercialisés en 2008 disposeront d'une puce GPS. En 2007, ce chiffre atteindra déjà 7%.

Cette accélération prévue des vente sera permise par les progrès technologiques des fabricants de chipset GPS qui mettront sur le marché des puces réduites, à faible consommation et à TTF (Time to Fix) court. Ces sociétés sont SiRF, Atmel/u-blox, Global Locate, GloNav, Nemerix, Texas Instruments et u-Nav.

THALES cède ses activités de navigation GPS pour 170 M$

Thales et un groupe d'investissement conduit par Shah Capital Partners ont signé un accord en vue de la cession par Thales d'une grande partie de ses activités dans le secteur des systèmes et équipements de navigation. Aux termes de cet accord, Shah Capital Partners pourra acquérir Thales Navigation pour 170 millions de dollars, et rebaptiser la société Magellan Navigation, Inc.

Publicité en voiture: première estimation

On tente ci-dessous une première estimation du marché de la publicité géo-contextuelle, qui aboutit à une fourchette entre 350 à 600m€ sur le marché français. Une paille par rapport à un marché global publicitaire de 30 milliards d'euros en France. Mais pas si petit si l'on compare aux 400m€ de publicité sur Internet ou aux 2,5m€ de radio et affichage que le GPS va en partie cannibaliser.

• La publicité sur Internet représentait 400m€ pour 25m d'internautes en 2005 , soit 1,25€/internaute/mois. Ramené au nombre d'heures passées sur Internet, la publicité génère 0,03€/heure/internaute.
• La publicité TV représentait 4 Md€ pour environ 50m de téléspectateurs en 2005 , soit 6,2€/téléspectateur/mois. Ramené au nombre d'heures passées devant l'écran, la publicité génère 0,06€/heure/téléspectateur.

Prenons le cas de l'automobile. En 2010, 35% des véhicules seront équipés, soit 10 millions en France. Ces automobilistes seront des cibles privilégiées pour les stations essence, parc de stationnement, hôtels, marques automobiles, etc. En passant 1 heure par jour dans sa voiture, avec un taux de 0,02€/heure, le marché publicitaire serait de 70m€. Autre raisonnement: 1€ de publicité par mois et par automobiliste aboutit à un marché publicitaire de 120m€.  A ces chiffres, il faut ajouter un facteur multiplicatif dû au fait que la publicité géo-contextuelle sera ciblée (en fonction du profil de l'automobiliste), géolocalisée (par le GPS) et cliquable ("j'accepte d'être conduit dans le parc de stationnement que l'on vient de m'indiquer"). Le marché publicitaire se rapprochera de celui du marketing direct: il sera mesurable, fonction directe du revenu généré sur le point de vente. Dans ce cadre, un facteur multiplicatif de 5 est réalisable, soit donc un marché de 350 à 600m€.

Publicité géo-contextuelle

Le budget publicitaire consacré à l'automobiliste agrège une partie des dépenses en affichage (1,5 milliards d'euros en France) et des dépenses en spots radio (1 milliard d'euros). Mais même si les annonceurs pouvaient vraiment dire quelle partie du budget finit sous les yeux ou dans les oreilles des automobilistes, l'inefficacité est totale par rapport à ce que l'on va pouvoir bientôt faire en terme de ciblage et de géo-contextualisation des publicités.

Avec le GPS et la connaissance du profil client, il est possible de pousser des annonces vers l'automobiliste en fonction de sa géolocalisation, de son profil et de son historique.

Ces ann