Trade news updates . . .
The Datus Routefinder (portable car nav product) uses a SiRF GPS receiver (said to be the fastest of those they tested) . . . Garmin is coming out in April with its first GPS-cellular product, a handheld called "NavTalk" that can send and display user locations between two people using the product. No specs or price yet available. . . . Microsoft Investor (subscription level) has a feature (which I haven't read) on precision machinery and GPS, mentioning Trimble . . . Nikon has replaced Trimble in Japan with NovAtel upon expiration of the TRMB survey product contract (Trimble went to Topcon, I believe, at the expense of Magellan) . . . Japan car nav market, which last year was about 940,000 units split evenly between aftermarket and OEM, this year is predicted by the trade to be 548,000 aftermarket and 696,000 OEM. Toyota, Honda and Nissan are all offering vehicle info service (a la "telematics" in Europe). US market, without this kind of infrastructure, expects only 10,000 units sold. . . . SiRF has also acquired an AVL deal. |
