Connected PNDs Delayed by Technical Issues and Economic Climate

• Posted: Sunday, August 24, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Miscellaneous

The wave of announcements of connected PNDs earlier this year has not yet resulted in many launches or significant sales volumes. The success of the Dash Express has been limited by a lack of branding and distribution strength, and connected PNDs from Mio and Magellan have still not been launched in the US.

“Technical difficulties, carrier agreements and the general economic climate have been the main reasons for the delays,” says ABI Research director Dominique Bonte. “For many PND vendors, cellular connectivity is a completely new project representing a huge challenge in terms of implementation, the development of new services, and the negotiation of agreements with carriers. Moreover, the worsening economic climate, the slowdown of the PND market growth, and the profitability issues faced by most vendors have resulted in connected PNDs ranking lower on all parties’ priority lists.”

However, Mio has now also announced its first connected PND for the Asia-Pacific market, aimed at professional users and supporting phone calls and local search. The Moov 380 will be launched in Taiwan at the end of 2008 and will offer 2.75G and 3G connectivity based on Qualcomm chipsets.

Bonte concludes: “While there is no doubt connected PNDs will become widespread, vendors will face an ongoing challenge in developing a wide range of compelling real-time services and educating users about the benefits of connected navigation.” [ABI Research]

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