Nokia is looking at bringing rich location-based experiences to more Nokia devices. It has recently unveiled Nokia 6210 navigator, a new GPS-enabled mobile device with an integrated compass for pedestrian guidance, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Nokia 6210 navigator comes with Nokia Maps 2.0, and it includes full voice and visual turn-by-turn guidance at no extra cost. Nokia 6210 was also showcased at Mobile Asia 2008 in New Delhi. It will be launched in India soon.
Asus bundles GPS function for most of the PDA phones and treats it as a standard function for high-end model. Navigation is getting more popular worldwide including India, and Asus is targeting to lead this market for GPS PDA phone category. GPS function will be the basic requirement for Asus PDA phone, and it will start bundling one India Map for customers to let them feel the benefit of using a navigation map. With regards to the product line, Asus has a number of handsets that support navigation technology. Asus P750 is a GPS PDA phone with 3.5G speed and 3MP camera, bundled with the Satguide, One India Map, selling at Rs 28,900.
Opportunities and road blocks
Most channel partners feel that the market for navigation software and devices in India is still at a nascent stage but there are great business opportunities in this segment in the days to come.
However, channel partners like Rajendra Akki, Proprietor, Ascentel opine that customers do not walk into the store specifically asking for these navigation handsets and devices. He further added that whatever training Nokia has given on the usage of GPS, however, does not focus on the end-users because of which there is not much sales happening in this segment. Other brands too have GPS-enabled handsets but the cost of activation is very high due to which minimal number of customers activates this service. Navigation devices are important for individuals who travel frequently, but in India there has not been much focus in this segment.
Another channel partner M Srinivas, Proprietor, Axis however holds a different view. He opines that in India, many customers are buying navigated handsets, which brings in a great business opportunity for partners. There are a lot of walk-ins in his store who ask for navigation devices. He said, "Navigation features have increased the prospects of selling high-end handsets, enabling us to earn about more than Rs 5,000 on these handsets."