Ever since Satnav devices were introduced, the way we travel has changed. No longer do we have to stress ourselves out about directions when we don’t know where we’re going.
Ordinary folk, holiday makers, travelling salesmen and long distance truck drivers have all benefited from the technology, which of course you have to pay for.
Now Google are releasing free Satnav software for mobile phones running on Android so could that cause sales of Satnav systems to drop or even potentially blow Satnav systems from the likes of TomTom and Garmin into the museums of history?
The new Android 2.0 operating system will support Google Maps Navigation which means it can provide detailed directions to wherever you want to go, and give you 3D street views too.
In other words, Google Maps Navigation on Android handsets will be able to do everything that a Satnav System can do except that you won’t have to buy a separate Satnav system to do it.
Also included in the free Google software package will be live traffic updates warning you about traffic jams and diversions.
The software will use Google’s latest maps which you won’t have to update as it will be done automatically, and you can enjoy the benefit of location based information such as finding places to eat, or where to stay.
Put a search in for the business or venue you want to attend and the software will direct you there. You will be able to switch between overhead maps and 3D displays and even listen to spoken instructions.
As the news about Google’s free Satnav software broke, the share prices of leading Satnav manufacturers started to fall.
If we take a look at two of the most popular Satnav manufacturers we see that the US company Garmin saw their shares fall by 18 percent and the Dutch company TomTom saw theirs drop by 13 percent, which just goes to show how threatening Google’s presence in that market area is.
However it wasn’t Google’s intention to enter a new market with new competitors just for the sake of it, according to Googles CEO Eric Schmidt “Those are tactical problems that occur after the strategic goal which is to offer something which is sort of magical on mobile devices using the cloud”.
Magical or not, it’s still early days and there’s bound to be teething problems, but let’s face it, if you can have something that will do the job completely for free, why would you go out and buy a bit of extra kit to do it?
Yep down the road a bit the separate Satnav systems could very well be blown away.
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