Navigation Market Looking At Boom Times Says Navteq
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In an exclusive interview this morning with channelnews, Kirk Mitchell, Director, Business Development, Navteq says the market for navigation services is booming for a number of reasons, not least of which is the falling price of navigation devices themselves.


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Mitchell notes there are a number of key drivers for the uptake of navigation devices, price being one, but the technology too plays its part here.

“These devices are becoming easier to use all the time”, says Mitchell, adding that as time goes on, “the amount and quality of services on navigation systems is increasing all the time, giving consumers more choice with what they can do with this technology”.

Mitchell also notes that according to GfK, some 750,000 navigation devices were sold in Australia over the past 12 months, representing only about 8 per cent of all vehicles in the country, meaning there is still plenty of space for vendors to increase their market penetration.

On top of that, there are big changes afoot in this space, he says.

“Firstly there is the convergence of mobile and navigation technologies which is going to expand the penetration of navigation technologies to areas not now serviced and secondly, there is more value-adding of services and information, like more location-based services onto navigation services”, making them even more appealing to consumers.

In terms of new technology and services, Mitchell these are also having an impact on safety.

 

“When driving, your eyes shouldn’t have to read the navigation device and in fact should really read the road”, that’s why he notes, Navteq has introduced features such as 3D Graphic Representation of complex intersections, giving users a much clearer picture of turning right into streets where it may be difficult”.

Furthermore says Mitchell, “we have also introduced Phonetic Voice Pronounciation of the many unusual or Aboriginal-sounding names in Australia, thereby, making sure users don’t miss read or mishear the name of the street”.

And in terms of freeway turn-offs, Mitchell also says that Navteq have added “new visualization software”, making it even easier to work out well beforehand the turn-off from a freeway when travelling at high speeds.

So according to Mitchell, it’s all happy days in the navigation device space, with the uptake of this technology for mobile phones and the increasing use of value-added services making him confident to predict that “Navteq is looking to become the number 1 vendor in this space within 12-18 months”.