On Black Friday, shoppers were tripping over themselves to buy the heavily discounted portable navigation devices at the RadioShack at Westfield Valley Fair mall. By the end of the day, the store sold about 80 units."It's the big story for us," said George Arrington, the store manager. "They hit the right price and now it's something everybody can use."
Two years ago, the devices that get their location fixes from global positioning system (GPS) satellites cost $1,000. But the cheapest ones now have broken the $100 barrier and many are now competing on a variety of features. GPS devices were the No. 1 electronic purchase on Black Friday, up sixfold over last year in unit sales. The average price was $189.
The big players are Garmin, TomTom, Magellan, Mio and Pioneer, according to market researcher NPD Group. In the first nine months of this year, U.S. GPS unit sales were 2 million, up from 547,000 a year earlier, NPD said. They all use satellite signals to fix a location through a process known as triangulation, so you need a clear view of the sky for them to work. Some supplement that by fixing position according to cell phone towers, and other means of fixing location are coming in the future, such as location chips from S5 Wireless.
The stand-alone navigation devices are selling well, but they have competition from cell phone companies including GPS software on phones and carmakers that are building GPS systems into autos. For free, the iPhone has a Google Maps application that allows you to figure out how to go from point A to point B. But it doesn't automatically update your location in real time as you move along the route, and it's more like printing out a MapQuest map on paper. To get real minute-by-minute navigation on a cell phone, you have to pay extra. For $10 a month, you can use the Telenav application on a wide variety of GPS-equipped phones or the VZ Navigator GPS navigation on some Verizon phones. If you lose your cell phone signal, however, these applications don't work. One of the most important features to look for in a GPS device is screen size. The bigger the better when you're trying to look at an on-screen map while driving. I liked the $499 Magellan Maestro 4250, which has a 4.3-inch screen with touch-screen buttons that were easy to hit accurately. (The screen isn't the only thing that makes this one pricey; it also has voice controls such as "go home" and AAA ratings on the search results for nearby points of interest such as restaurants.) The better gadgets, including the Mio DigiWalker C230 for $249, also read aloud directions with more precision, saying "turn right on Elm street" ahead. Still others deliver real-time traffic, meaning they will tell you if the traffic on the freeways is "red," "yellow," or "green." They can deliver alternate routes with the click of button. Navigon offers a $99 add-on feature that gives you a lifetime of real-time traffic. The more expensive ones also come with built-in Bluetooth speakers that allow you to connect your cell phone to the device and turn it into a hands-free speaker phone. The $599 Mio DigiWalker C720t has a built-in digital camera that can tag photos with the coordinates of the picture. And the better units include full maps of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Harman Kardon has built a digital media player into its Guide + Play GPS-510 model that sells for $399. That model has a 4.3-inch screen and real-time traffic on local freeways for $6 a month. The $599 GPS-810 model also has hands-free Bluetooth calling, a picture viewer and an FM radio. The idea is that you can take these out of your car and use the features while walking. For hikers, Bushnell makes a rugged GPS unit that also has weather service and XM Satellite Radio service for $499. The newer devices work faster than the older ones because they have newer third-generation GPS chips from Sirf Technology, said Kanwar Chadha, vice president of marketing at Sirf in San Jose. While some poorly made units in the past took minutes to get a signal, the newest ones can get a navigational fix in seconds. Some of the best new devices coming next year will be connected to networks, said Kim Fennell, chief executive of GPS map maker deCarta. That allows you to get updated maps, better traffic information and local search features in which you can look for things like "nearby patio furniture store," he said. Other innovations are coming in displays. Nav N Go, a Hungarian company, is announcing in January that it can create 3-D animated map views that include elevation, buildings, landmarks and other visual cues that are more appealing than the traditional flat two-dimensional maps. Israel-based 3DVU also plans to put video images on GPS displays that give drivers even more cues about where to turn. Starting today Dash Navigation will begin taking pre-orders for its $600 Dash Express two-way navigation unit, which has a lot of extras built-in. It will have real-time traffic that receives updates from Dash users, whose speeds on various roads is transmitted back to the centralized database for more accurate traffic advice. Dash Express also has built in Yahoo Local Search, which will find nearby businesses, products and services that aren't automatically listed as points of interest; you can even e-mail your MapQuest directions or any address to your Dash device. Also today, Sirf Technologies of San Jose is announcing that GPS will be a core technology behind Google's Android cell phone technology coming next year. The technology is evolving so quickly that other companies may duplicate Dash's features by the time of its scheduled arrival at the end of February. We're likely see interesting announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that will give us reasons to wait and spend more. I just hope these GPS companies won't make it too interesting to look at the display while driving.
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