GPS battle

[bumblebee]

I agree with the latter part of the article, GPS makers should do it better.
They are under threat, but certainly not out of the market.

I go hiking every so often and then I pack my Garmin, simply because it is portable, rugged and waterproof. I pack my cell, but it's in a plastic bag in the backpack.I also used the Garmin on my bike. Another place a cell would be useless due to the weather.

As for the car, I currently use my cell. It has to be plugged into the handsfree and gets quite hot while navigating, but it works well with Garmin software.
At R2/MB I'm not using Google.
However, if Google lets the device cache map data, then I'll be interested.

 

[ebendl]

The thing is, Garmin and Tom-Tom had a loooong time to really innovate before Google came along. Why didn't they?

That's the thing with a good competitive market, if you don't do product differentiation or cost optimization, you lose. Yes, the GPS devices got cheaper, but not that much. And does my Garmin do anything different than the one I got for Christmas four years ago? Not really - it has a wider screen, that's it. In fact, the "cheaper" and "newer" models actually got less features - why could I switch off Status updates and Voice navigation seperately on my nuvi 350, but not on my nuwi 210w??

They still have market share, and as mentioned, Google only exists in the states atm (unless you're willing to hack a bit). Now is the time to jump and do something innovative. What about free map-updates, Garmin? What about 3D buildings? Why haven't you guys thought of incorporating digital compasses in every nuvi out there? Why can't every nuvi log my route? Why can't every nuvi plan multiple waypoints? Give the high-end devices something truly high-end!