Nokia’s Free GPS Is Already Shaking Up PND Market
What's more, Nokia expects to ship new smartphones beginning in March that will come preloaded with local country map data for the new Ovi Maps app, which will also include free travel-guide content from Lonely Planet and Michelin. IDC Research Manager Francisco Jeronimo believes the free Ovi Maps will end up being a huge "game changer" for the personal-navigation device (PND) market.
"It will have a strong and very negative impact on companies selling navigation products or applications," Jeronimo said. "Competing with Nokia is difficult, but competing with Nokia's free services is almost impossible!"
Google's decision last year to offer free navigation on Android-powered phones in the United States was the first notable setback for PND makers TomTom and Garmin, which suffered significant stock-price declines at the time. Jeronimo thinks Nokia's free navigation offering is an even bigger threat.
"The only way navigation companies will be able to survive is by selling location-based services or selling their applications to other manufacturers forced to deliver a similar offering, like Apple," Jeronimo said. The danger is that navigation will quickly become a commodity that consumers will no longer be willing to pay for, he added.
"The question is whether or not consumers will prefer to buy a PND because it has a bigger screen, the battery lasts longer, and the signal is better," the IDC analyst said. "In my opinion, consumers will shift to mobile phones as their primary GPS devices because what they are saving is a significant amount of...
