GPS Business News: Today Garmin and its newly acquired subsidiary NAVIGON have hosted a press conference at the IFA trade show in Berlin.
At this stage the companies have presented together their products but the portfolio, which was designed months before the acquisition was obviously separated with a range of new NAVIGON product and the European version of the Garmin lineup announced in the United States a few days ago.
Together Garmin and NAVIGON represent 30 percent of the European PND market, while TomTom has slightly declined, around 45 percent. In Germany Garmin-NAVIGON are even number one with around 46 percent market share (24 percent for Garmin and 22 percent for NAVIGON).
To push its momentum, Garmin has introduced in Europe a new low price point with a 3.5-inch PND starting at €79. This price is likely to put some strains on TomTom margin to keep up volume and market share on its low-end products.
As it comes to products, NAVIGON introduced today a full lineup of PNDs that includes 10 different product. The highlight of this range is a new user interface called NAVIGON Flow which has been redesigned to simplify the interface.
Within this range NAVIGON is introducing two connected devices, NAVIGON 72 Plus Live and NAVIGON 92 Premium Live.
The NAVIGON 72 Plus Live costs €199 with real-time traffic and Google local search, in addition, three months of subscription to these services are offered. The NAVIGON 92 Premium Live costs €349 and comes with 6 connected services and 12 months of subscription included.
NAVIGON’s R&D has demonstrated its capacity to offer sophisticated yet simple to use devices and software. To maximize this acquisition, Garmin will have to integrate this innovative know-how and offer it a favorable ground to flourish in future Garmin’s products. It is a delicate task but if done well the U.S. company might have an edge against its Dutch rival.
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