With the connected portable navigation market slow to catch fire despite predictions to the contrary, pioneer Dash Express couldn't stand the heat (or lack thereof) or the burn rate of its venture capital funding and pulled the plug on its consumer business last week, announcing that the company will instead pursue licensing its technology. Exactly a week later, TeleNav has stepped in to take the place of Dash with its $299 Shotgun cellular-based portable navigation device (PND).
The nascent connected PND market is getting more crowded with each passing month, and the competition is a good thing for consumers, if only for the early adopters at this point.
In late October, big box retailer Best Buy introduced two connected PNDs: the Insignia NS-CNV10 ($399.99) and NS-CNV20 ($499.99). Like the TeleNav Shotgun, the Best Buy PNDs use a cellular connection for Internet access, and they can perform Google Local Search for services and allow users to send directions to the units from Goggle Maps.
Clarion will also start shipping its MiND PND ($649.99) soon, which offers full Internet access using either a DUN connection to a Bluetooth phone or WiFi when in range.
The Shotgun leverages TeleNav's years of experience in providing real-time traffic info and location-based services. But the connected PND contenders that survive may be the ones that don't scare off customers with a higher monthly service fee.
So far the winner is Clarion, since the MiND doesn't require a service plan beyond what the owner already has for his/her mobile phone. Second place is Best Buy's Insignias, which come with one year of free service, after which the charge is $99 a year. The TeleNav Shotgun offers three months of free service, and then a user can choose to pay either $11.99 a month, $129 a year or $239 for two years.
But the TeleNav Shotgun does offer more for your monthly money, most importantly traffic info. The Shotgun can receive reports on traffic along a route, and TeleNav claims the device "proactively searches for congestion or incidents" and provides rerouting. It also alerts drivers to delays with audible warnings and on-screen prompts, and the system provides specific incident information and shows traffic speed and flow on major highways along a route.
Other OEM and aftermarket nav systems do a decent job with that stuff, but the Shotgun also allows users to save locations in a favorites folder on the TeleNav website and automatically downloaded them to the device so that they can pre-plan trips and save addresses. Plus, a plug-in for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google toolbars allows users to send addresses to the device from a web page by simply highlighting them and clicking a TeleNav button in the toolbar.
TeleNav claims another advantage of the Shotgun's connectivity is the device's software can be automatically updated, and the company says its working on enhancements such as restaurant reviews, address sharing for social networking apps, weather updates and commute alerts.
With Dash launching just last Spring and out of the market in less than a year -- and larger competitors quickly coming in to the connected PND market -- it shows how fast technology moves. And how it can take time for a new technology to catch on and for consumers to want to pay for it.
Just ask XM Sirius Radio, Inc.
ateixeira says:
11:22 AM, 11/12/08
I had an evaluation unit and they were awful. Can't say I'm surprised. I'd pay for a Garmin over getting a Dash for free.