手持设备GPS功能成市场新宠
作者： DJN
责任编辑： 阚智
来源： 《电脑商情报》
时间： 2006-10-05 12:10
A new generation of navigation devices, designed to have the sleekness and portability of an iPod, are finding their way to store shelves this fall. The hand-held devices, which are being pushed by both traditional navigation-device makers like Garmin Ltd. and big personal-computer companies like Hewlett-Packard Co., are meant to be used by walkers as well as drivers. Meanwhile, cellphone companies are beefing up their own navigation services in an effort to capture the growing market.
Hand-held navigation devices and GPS services for cellphones and personal digital assistants have been around for years, but they appealed mainly to hikers, skiers and techies. Many older hand-helds offered only topographical maps, and street maps for cellphones and PDAs often cost extra and were glitchy. Some portable navigation devices meant mainly for car use did have street maps, but they were too bulky to carry around, and some tended to direct walkers as if they were cars. (For example, no going the wrong way down one-way streets.)
The latest navigation devices, which some companies now call "personal companions" or "travel companions," aim to change all that. In the hopes of encouraging people to carry them wherever they go, many companies are also adding functions including instant messaging, photo viewers, travel guides with information like restaurant reviews and MP3 players.
"I was not happy with any of the units I had seen prior to this one," says Kathy Vajo, a 59-year-old human-resources specialist in Hamilton, N.J., who bought her first GPS unit, a Garmin nüvi, earlier this year. Ms. Vajo hopes to use it when walking around New York City and when traveling. "No matter where you are, you can use it," she says.
But users say the new devices and services still have drawbacks. Many of the devices still have small screens that can be hard to see and don't always offer some of the more advanced features, like traffic information and detailed maps, found on devices focused on cars or recreation. Some of the new devices and services also continue to route you on streets as if you were a car.
Last week, H-P announced its first PDA product that features built-in, ready-for-use navigation software and maps. The HP iPAQ rx5900 is part of a series of "Travel Companion" devices being offered world-wide. The rx5900, which goes on sale for $599 later this month, is designed to work both in the car and when users are walking around or traveling. Along with turn-by-turn directions, the device has other travel tools and features, such as currency converters, a photo viewer and email and Internet access.
Magellan Navigation Inc. last month announced a new portable navigation device, the $549 Magellan RoadMate 2500T, which comes with both topographical contour maps for hiking and street maps for driving. Magellan says the 2500T and the two other devices in its new RoadMate 2000 series are the company's first "pocket-size" devices, smaller and thinner than other recent products. And Garmin International's nüvi line, launched earlier this year, comprises three "Personal Travel Assistants" that are part navigation device, part travel guide (complete with a database of hotel and restaurant recommendations) and part music player -- among other features -- and run from about $800 to $1,000.
Meanwhile, Mio Technology Ltd., Fremont, Calif., said it's planning to release the Mio DigiWalker H610, a portable navigation and entertainment device, in the middle of this month. The nearly $500 palm-size device, which resembles a small iPod, will have multiple navigation modes, including one for walking and one for bicycle or car. And Delphi Corp. of Troy, Mich., announced a new portable navigation device called NAV200 that will hit the market later this month and also comes with a "pedestrian" mode.
Other companies that have entered or talked about entering the U.S. portable-navigation market this year include Sony Corp., Pioneer Corp., Alpine Electronics of America Inc., Audiovox Corp., Rand McNally & Co. and Philips Electronics NV.
The new offerings come as the market for portable navigation units is expected to grow rapidly. In July, the Consumer Electronics Association forecast that shipments of portable navigation units to retailers, dealers and distributors would grow 88% this year to 1.3 million units, with shipments expected to reach 4.2 million by 2010. But the association says such shipments could be as high as two million units this year. In contrast, the market for in-dash or built-in navigation units is expected to remain much smaller, with shipments of 255,000 units in 2010.
Meanwhile, many cellphone companies and carriers are also beefing up their navigation offerings. Last month, Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., launched a subscription navigation service called TeleNav GPS Navigator on some handsets and PDAs. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, announced the release of a similar service, VZ Navigator, on a few devices. Last month, Sprint Nextel Corp. launched its latest downloadable navigation offering, MapQuest Navigator, which features a pedestrian walking mode. And start-up VoiceBox Technologies Inc. plans to release personal navigation applications on cellphones next year that allow consumers to enter a destination or find a point of interest by voice. T-Mobile USA doesn't provide location-based services in the U.S., but the company is currently testing one.
Nokia Corp. is coming out with a phone with GPS built in. The Nokia N95 has an application that includes maps for more than 100 countries, enabling users to find routes or locate services such as restaurants and hotels. The N95 is expected to start shipping in Europe during the first quarter of next year, and the company hopes to launch a device with a similar technology, including navigation, in the U.S. in the latter half of next year.
Cellphone companies say they don't expect prices for navigation-software downloads, which can run up to $9.99 a month, to decline soon. But some of the new portable-navigation devices with walking modes are cheaper than offerings targeted mainly at drivers. Mio's DigiWalker C710 and C310, which are geared toward drivers and don't have pedestrian and bike modes, cost $649.95 each, compared with $499.95 for the more pedestrian-oriented H610.
However, many of the new products lack some of the functions found on devices mainly for cars or hikers. Magellan's new 2500T, for example, doesn't come with topographical contour maps as detailed as those on the company's hand-held devices devoted to hiking. And, as with some of the other devices, users have to pay extra to get traffic information.
In addition, some devices are more helpful than others for walkers. Garmin says its pedestrian mode negates one-way roads so that walkers can be directed the wrong way. It also allows walkers to go through access roads in parks where cars aren't allowed.
Similarly, TomTom International BV's new entry-level $499 TomTom ONE device, 5.5 ounces lighter than TomTom's next-smallest device, directs walkers in pedestrian mode down the wrong way on one-way streets or along pedestrian bridges or bike paths if those are the fastest routes. And the pedestrian modes on many cellphone services such as Sprint's MapQuest Navigator enable users to find walking directions and eliminate restrictions such as one-way streets and right-turn-only intersections.
But on the Magellan devices, walkers using the street maps will be directed as if they were a car. Magellan expects pedestrian routing features to be available on its new products early next year.
Cellphone-based navigation has its flaws as well. When Ryan Kelsey, of Downers Grove, Ill., used TeleNav on his cellphone while walking to look for an ATM, the system sent him to an ATM that had been removed. "The bank chose to remove the ATM but that information wasn't updated in the data," he said.
Hand-held navigation devices and GPS services for cellphones and personal digital assistants have been around for years, but they appealed mainly to hikers, skiers and techies. Many older hand-helds offered only topographical maps, and street maps for cellphones and PDAs often cost extra and were glitchy. Some portable navigation devices meant mainly for car use did have street maps, but they were too bulky to carry around, and some tended to direct walkers as if they were cars. (For example, no going the wrong way down one-way streets.)
The latest navigation devices, which some companies now call "personal companions" or "travel companions," aim to change all that. In the hopes of encouraging people to carry them wherever they go, many companies are also adding functions including instant messaging, photo viewers, travel guides with information like restaurant reviews and MP3 players.
"I was not happy with any of the units I had seen prior to this one," says Kathy Vajo, a 59-year-old human-resources specialist in Hamilton, N.J., who bought her first GPS unit, a Garmin nüvi, earlier this year. Ms. Vajo hopes to use it when walking around New York City and when traveling. "No matter where you are, you can use it," she says.
But users say the new devices and services still have drawbacks. Many of the devices still have small screens that can be hard to see and don't always offer some of the more advanced features, like traffic information and detailed maps, found on devices focused on cars or recreation. Some of the new devices and services also continue to route you on streets as if you were a car.
Last week, H-P announced its first PDA product that features built-in, ready-for-use navigation software and maps. The HP iPAQ rx5900 is part of a series of "Travel Companion" devices being offered world-wide. The rx5900, which goes on sale for $599 later this month, is designed to work both in the car and when users are walking around or traveling. Along with turn-by-turn directions, the device has other travel tools and features, such as currency converters, a photo viewer and email and Internet access.
Magellan Navigation Inc. last month announced a new portable navigation device, the $549 Magellan RoadMate 2500T, which comes with both topographical contour maps for hiking and street maps for driving. Magellan says the 2500T and the two other devices in its new RoadMate 2000 series are the company's first "pocket-size" devices, smaller and thinner than other recent products. And Garmin International's nüvi line, launched earlier this year, comprises three "Personal Travel Assistants" that are part navigation device, part travel guide (complete with a database of hotel and restaurant recommendations) and part music player -- among other features -- and run from about $800 to $1,000.
Meanwhile, Mio Technology Ltd., Fremont, Calif., said it's planning to release the Mio DigiWalker H610, a portable navigation and entertainment device, in the middle of this month. The nearly $500 palm-size device, which resembles a small iPod, will have multiple navigation modes, including one for walking and one for bicycle or car. And Delphi Corp. of Troy, Mich., announced a new portable navigation device called NAV200 that will hit the market later this month and also comes with a "pedestrian" mode.
Other companies that have entered or talked about entering the U.S. portable-navigation market this year include Sony Corp., Pioneer Corp., Alpine Electronics of America Inc., Audiovox Corp., Rand McNally & Co. and Philips Electronics NV.
The new offerings come as the market for portable navigation units is expected to grow rapidly. In July, the Consumer Electronics Association forecast that shipments of portable navigation units to retailers, dealers and distributors would grow 88% this year to 1.3 million units, with shipments expected to reach 4.2 million by 2010. But the association says such shipments could be as high as two million units this year. In contrast, the market for in-dash or built-in navigation units is expected to remain much smaller, with shipments of 255,000 units in 2010.
Meanwhile, many cellphone companies and carriers are also beefing up their navigation offerings. Last month, Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp., launched a subscription navigation service called TeleNav GPS Navigator on some handsets and PDAs. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, announced the release of a similar service, VZ Navigator, on a few devices. Last month, Sprint Nextel Corp. launched its latest downloadable navigation offering, MapQuest Navigator, which features a pedestrian walking mode. And start-up VoiceBox Technologies Inc. plans to release personal navigation applications on cellphones next year that allow consumers to enter a destination or find a point of interest by voice. T-Mobile USA doesn't provide location-based services in the U.S., but the company is currently testing one.
Nokia Corp. is coming out with a phone with GPS built in. The Nokia N95 has an application that includes maps for more than 100 countries, enabling users to find routes or locate services such as restaurants and hotels. The N95 is expected to start shipping in Europe during the first quarter of next year, and the company hopes to launch a device with a similar technology, including navigation, in the U.S. in the latter half of next year.
Cellphone companies say they don't expect prices for navigation-software downloads, which can run up to $9.99 a month, to decline soon. But some of the new portable-navigation devices with walking modes are cheaper than offerings targeted mainly at drivers. Mio's DigiWalker C710 and C310, which are geared toward drivers and don't have pedestrian and bike modes, cost $649.95 each, compared with $499.95 for the more pedestrian-oriented H610.
However, many of the new products lack some of the functions found on devices mainly for cars or hikers. Magellan's new 2500T, for example, doesn't come with topographical contour maps as detailed as those on the company's hand-held devices devoted to hiking. And, as with some of the other devices, users have to pay extra to get traffic information.
In addition, some devices are more helpful than others for walkers. Garmin says its pedestrian mode negates one-way roads so that walkers can be directed the wrong way. It also allows walkers to go through access roads in parks where cars aren't allowed.
Similarly, TomTom International BV's new entry-level $499 TomTom ONE device, 5.5 ounces lighter than TomTom's next-smallest device, directs walkers in pedestrian mode down the wrong way on one-way streets or along pedestrian bridges or bike paths if those are the fastest routes. And the pedestrian modes on many cellphone services such as Sprint's MapQuest Navigator enable users to find walking directions and eliminate restrictions such as one-way streets and right-turn-only intersections.
But on the Magellan devices, walkers using the street maps will be directed as if they were a car. Magellan expects pedestrian routing features to be available on its new products early next year.
Cellphone-based navigation has its flaws as well. When Ryan Kelsey, of Downers Grove, Ill., used TeleNav on his cellphone while walking to look for an ATM, the system sent him to an ATM that had been removed. "The bank chose to remove the ATM but that information wasn't updated in the data," he said.
