Time for sat-nav to surrender?
February 2nd, 2010
❝ WF Google has just launched a turn-by-turn sat-nav application for the Android 2.0 smartphones. It’s an obvious step to move from mapping with directions to sat-nav, but the amazing thing is that it’s free to use, and by all accounts it’s good. The days of windscreens dominated by dedicated sat-navs are numbered.
FM Don’t be so sure about that. The difference between standalone sat-nav devices and Google’s free offering is that one is dedicated to the task and reliable, and the other is neither. Guess which is which.?
WF How do you know that Google Maps Navigation is any less reliable than the dedicated systems? And even if it is, it’s not as if TomTom, Navigon, Garmin and Navman have never courted controversy themselves. However good the free Google system is, it’s going to get better, which will make life even harder for the paid alternatives.
FM I know it simply because Google Nav relies on having a good network signal or Wi-Fi. Personal navigation devices have pre-loaded maps, not to mention processor and graphics tech dedicated to sat-nav. Plus, TomTom’s Live Traffic data comes partly from actual TomTom users, an infrastructure so complex that TomTom has to charge for it. Google will be forced to buy its live traffic data from the cheapest vendor, with a subsequent loss in quality.
WF Google could easily track the positions of its nav app users. If anything, Google’s system has the potential to be even more accurate. But regardless of whether Google itself slings the death blow, it’ll be slung by smartphones. A phone has considerably more power than your average PND – more memory, more processing power, better screen, better connectivity, and it’s already in your pocket. There’s no physical barrier to preventing a phone from being just as good a sat-nav as a PND is.
FM I don’t think that sat-nav manufacturers will sit back and let Google take their business. TomTom and Navigon already have iPhone apps, a move that shows that they are willing to threaten their own standalone products in order to play the market share game: lose a little in the traditional market, get it back elsewhere. But, don’t underestimate the number of Mrs Smiths that will always buy a proper sat-nav device. Like MP3 players and ebook readers, sat-nav has become a service that you can buy into at many levels.
WF Whether they’re on their laurels or not, PND manufacturers should watch out. Whatever they have up their sleeves to make me want to buy a PND, they’d better pull it out soon. Google likes to own a market and it already has the infrastructure to sew this one up. ❞
