New GPS Features at CES 2007
Update: See all of the new GPS units from the CES 2007 show on our homepage.
After watching the GPS world for a while and seeing what's hot and changing in the world of GPS units, I wanted to lay out some predictions on what is on the way for new GPS products in the new year, and potentially as early as the CES in January 2007 taking place at Las Vegas.
In looking back at this past year, we saw a huge surge of GPS sales, especially in the holiday season that is establishing the GPS in more and more households as the GPS goes mainstream. We saw a lot of new announcements from the biggies, as well as the not so big names as they figure on capturing part of the 80+% growth in the market.
OK, below are 5 trends that I think we'll see emerging or continuing to emerge in 2007, starting with the CES show in January.
1. Thin Is In - Expect thin, flat units from here on out. If it's fat, then you'd better have a darn good feature set that backs up the bulk.
2. Connectivity Rules - We know that the Nuvi 680 will have MSN direct capabilities through SPOT technology, including weather, traffic and hummmmm, ?horoscopes?, anyway and that Dash Express is connected to the gills with its two way cellular and WiFi capabilities. Well expect more connectivity in the GPS as an information hub of the car. Who can forget the TomTom PLUS service? Not me. Expect (and hope for) expanded capabilities here. Dynamic gas prices?
3. Value Play - The Black Friday deal of the Mio C310x introduced the US to affordable decency in a GPS. Expect a whole new crop of inexpensive GPS units from lesser known brands, some experimenting with more advanced features, as they vie for their piece of this ever expanding pie. Some will be good, but most will not. Again, it's easy to make a GPS, but it's hard to make a good GPS. Expect the Biggies to address this end of the market with value priced introductions of new models or by taking pricing action on older models, or both. I expect that we'll see everyday prices of value GPS units to be $150 - $199, and decent "Biggie Brand" GPS units as low as $200 - $250 sometime in 2007. This means a decent 3.5 inch touchscreen, maps pre-loaded GPS unit; I'm not talking about a Garmin i-2 here.
4. Overlays - Bushnell is bringing overlays to the handheld GPS market with their new ONIX line. Garmin has the satellite image and weather radar overlays to their new marine units. Expect overlays of information to be a bigger part of the upscale offerings. The key will be to drive usability. No one wants more clutter, but the information can offer additional useful information. Stay tuned.
5. Smarter Navigation - Look for innovation in the area of improving navigation. Dash has a new traffic flow based navigation engine on its Dash Express unit that will better estimate the best route taking into account historical traffic flow patterns. Look for user input on routes beyond the typical fastest, shortest, etc. type of preference setting. Expect units to adapt or learn from your feedback to improve routing form "Pretty Good" to "As good as a local resident would do."
It's going to be a fun 2007 for GPS units.
Read More in: Dash News | GPS News | Garmin GPS News
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Posted by Scott Martin at December 13, 2006 10:31 AM
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