Garmin GVN 52 - a GPS navigation box for your car
Garmin announced the Garmin GVN 52 GPS receiver today, a black box for use in cars with other components that will display the information. Garmin's GPS hardware and familiar StreetPilot user interface and is designed to be integrated with mobile audio/video entertainment systems. Kenwood Corporation and Riverpark, a national distributor of mobile audio products to the U.S. recreational vehicle industry, are among the first companies to offer the GVN 52 on select products.
This type of product entry is very much needed for Garmin who will find their market shrinking as navigation units in cars become the cheaper alternative that most cars have. Eventually, this type of product offering could put Garmin in a place where they could have the navigation system Garmin branded in cars off the lot. This would be similar to Bose stereo systems that are offered in some cars. As you can imagine, it's not having the hardware, it's also having the experience to deliver the software that works for most people. Garmin has figured this out, but a lot of others haven't and that's a competitive advantage that Garmin can sell.
The Garmin GVN 52 will allow companies like Kenwood to design the integrated stereo unit, which they are good at and leave the GPS interface and hardware work to Garmin, which is what they are good at. The Garmin unit can be configured to include a lot of Garmin's full feature set; more below.
"This announcement marks the first time consumer electronics companies can use Garmin's proven GPS navigation applications and integrate it with their audio-video entertainment system," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "Because of our diverse product line, we are able to offer customers a full range of options that can be easily tailored to their specific product."
Although the GVN 52 may be customized to each company's specifications, one of the commonalities is Garmin's robust hardware featuring solid state memory, and easy to use StreetPilot interface, which requires little input and allows the user to see their exact location on an electronic map. Users may look up and route directly to a specific address or point of interest such as a restaurant, hotel, store, gas station or bank. The turn-by-turn, text-to-speech, voice prompted directions will tell the user to "turn right on Main Street." In addition, the voice-prompted directions may be amplified through the audio system's speakers, with video shown through the system’s integrated display. The unit comes preloaded with maps of the entire United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, or Western Europe
Other features that can be built into Garmin’s GVN 52 include touch screen communication, wireless remote, dead reckoning, and traffic information via Garmin's GTM 10 or XM traffic, audio, and data through Garmin's GXM 30. This is what the future of GPS navigation is all about - get you there by avoiding traffic.
Read More in: GPS News | Garmin GPS News
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Posted by Scott Martin at January 3, 2006 10:22 AM
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