SatGuide welcomes free navigation from Nokia with open arms

BANGALORE, INDIA: Amit Kishore Prasad, Founder MD & CEO, SatGuide – SatNav Technologies, pioneers of GPS technologies in India since 2005.

"The opening up of Navigation software for all Nokia phones will make other Phone OEMs move from their fence-sitting strategy and work out a focused plan for maps & navigation. SatGuide offers maps with navigation software to all Phone OEMs and most of them have been worried about the Bill of Material (BOM) cost addition even though our pricing is the most competitive.

"As a result, in some models it is bundled but in many other models it is only an optional add on which mostly is not communicated well enough to the consumer at the point of sale, enough to make him buy it separately from the phone. Net effect is that consumers are being deprived of the great value add that their smart phones can offer.

"We hope this will now change, and our phone navigation software and maps business will therefore pick up even more since Nokia’s handset competitors should not buy maps from their mapping company and should prefer partners like us leading to higher sales in this segment. To add here, SatGuide also offers a “Try & Buy” version of Navigation software for Nokia handsets, which will be extended to other OS soon, this will now enable consumers to compare both and then decide which one to use in India, we are confident Nokia users too will see that our maps are better than what they can get anywhere else."

"This move will also benefit the growth of Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) in the Indian market. Most people till today are not aware of what exactly navigation can do and how it will help them in their daily lives, some people even express surprise that the technology works in India, luckily this number is going down rapidly over the last two-three quarters with awareness increasing rapidly.

"Now, with maps becoming easily available on handsets provided by the phone company that has the largest market share in the country, awareness levels will leapfrog in the coming days. This increased awareness always leads to more demand, international trends have proven that wide screen devices with a processing power greater than the top end phone is the requirement of any navigation user anywhere, and PNDs today offer it better than any phone.

"While we know that the future of PND is being debated, atleast for the next three-four years, it can be safely said that till some major technology change first takes place, the Mobile Navigation Phone and the PND will co-exist and grow together just like Digital cameras and Camera Phones have in the last couple of years. In summary, here too we believe the PND market growth will benefit our company thanks to this strategy of Nokia."