09
Sep
2011
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. (more…)
27
Jul
2011
Engadget: Mergers and acquisitions can sometimes take some unexpected turns, but that’s not the case with Garmin’s purchase of former rival Navigon. The company said last month that the acquisition would be complete by “late July” and now, on July 26th, it’s announced that the deal is in fact done. There’s still no financial details being disclosed, but execs from both companies are expectedly tossing around words like “excited” and “pleased,” and they’re promising plenty of integration and new opportunities going forward. Obviously, they’re betting they’ll be better as partners than rivals in the face of mounting challenges.
15
Jun
2011
Engadget: News of Garmin’s plans to acquire Navigon leaked out earlier this month, but we now have official word that the GPS giant will bring the smaller German company under its wing beginning in late July. Pending regulatory approval, the deal would have Navigon, one of the largest GPS brands in Europe, functioning as a subsidiary of Garmin, which has a much stronger presence in North America. The companies were unable to reveal any financial information, though previous estimates priced the deal in the “mid-double-digit million” Euro range. Navigon says it’s not ready to share any details concerning the acquisition, but we’re unlikely to see major effects in the US, where the company has smartphone apps but hasn’t sold dedicated GPS devices in several years.
20
Aug
2010
GPS Business News: One year after the inception of turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps on the iTunes store, German provider NAVIGON claims over 1 million users worldwide.
“Part of our success is dedication to consistently innovate the navigation market with new possibilities and delivery through free updates. In its first year, MobileNavigator led the navigation application market with its six cost-free, major updates that included over 30 new functions,” said Gerhard Mayr, NAVIGON vice-president worldwide mobile phones & new markets.
11
Mar
2010
Übergizmo: Navigon’s latest 2510 Explorer GPS navigation system will come with a sightseeing function, making it a suitable purchase for those who love doing plenty of traveling and prefer to rely on technology instead of the locals to tell them of interesting places to visit along the route. Apart from that, it will also provide additional information on historical sites accompanied by pictures, opening times for places and even a guide for scenic routes thanks to ViaMichelin. Battery life has also been improved to 4 hours. Read more…
11
Jun
2009
Electronista: NAVIGON today signaled its intent to compete against TomTom’s iPhone app with software of its own.
A version of MobileNavigator will use iPhone OS 3.0′s support of turn-by-turn GPS to provide the same driving directions as many of its dedicated GPS units, including its Reality View, lane and speed assists, and its notification of road signs.
Owners can play music from their device’s existing library, plot routes based on contacts’ addresses and auto-resume navigation after taking a call. The mapping firm doesn’t say whether it will make an accessory to support MobileNavigator, as TomTom is for its own app, but does say it will have both free and paid versions.
The free Lite version doesn’t have active navigation and only lets users search the map as well as find points of interest; paying unlocks the full feature set. NAVIGON anticipates its software arriving in the App Store in June but won’t reveal the paid version’s price until it’s available.
05
May
2009
Engadget: Man, talk about coming straight out of left field. After blowing it out at CeBIT just two months ago, Navigon has just announced its intentions to pull out of the navigation business here in North America.
According to CEO Egon Minar: “Due to the difficult economic environment and the aggressive pricing we have decided to withdraw from the PND business in North America for the time being. We are however not closing down our Chicago office which will continue to serve our automotive and mobile phone businesses in North America.”
He did assert that the company would “continue to fulfill all obligations to its existing PND customers in terms of map updates, etc.,” but nothing else on the subject was said. So long, Navigon — we’ll miss your “uber-premium” wares.
11
Nov
2008
NaviGadget: Navigon just announced their high end GPS navigation system called NAVIGON 8100T.
What’s special about Navigon 8100T is that it has a new feature called Panaroma View 3D which incorporates actual terrain features and elevation.
The other difference from the rest of their GPS navigation system lineup is that 8100T has brushed metal housing instead of the piano black plastic.
Here are some features of the new Navigon 8100T:
Voice Destination Entry
4.8″ widesceen display
Reality View Pro
Lane Assistant Pro
Bluetooth Hands-Free
Advanced Text-to-speech
04
Nov
2008
Electronista: Navigon announced the release of the 5100 max personal navigation devices, spotted earlier this month at the FCC, along with the 2090S.Both units sport Navigon’s newest software that can generate routes quicker and makes entering information faster and easier thanks to the company’s SmartSpeller software.
The 5100 max uses a 4.3-inch touchscreen display with a 16:9 aspect ratio that will display real-time traffic updates. Buyers get these updates for the life of the unit without having to pay any additional subscription fees or having to buy additional hardware.
The 5100 max also includes a Bluetooth module, allowing for hands-free talk when using compatible cell phones. Contacts are synced wirelessly and can be dialed with one touch from the touchscreen interface.
The Navigon 2090S has a 3.5-inch touchscreen display and shares many of the same features with the 5100 max. Both include Navigon FreshMaps, a service that offers as many as eight quarterly map software updates over two years.
17
Sep
2008
NaviGadget: Navigon on Monday announced the new Navigon 2000S. Navigon 2000S seems like a mid-range GPS navigation system with the price of an entry level system.
It features the Reality View Pro which is very helpful at complicated highway intersections with its 3D view that even include actual road signs.
There’s also the Lane Assistance Pro which can tell you which lane to merge to.
Text-to-speech is also a very nice feature you can find on Navigon 2000S.
27
Aug
2008
TrustedReviews: We’ve seen a great many sat navs come and go over the years but this one looks like it may last in the memory…
Navigon has clearly gone to town with the ’7200T’ an ultra widescreen 16:9, 4.3in screened device which offers up potentially photo realistic 3D mapping thanks to a pair of swanky techs it is dubbing ‘Reality View Pro’ and ‘Landmark View 3D’.
General roadside beautification is handled by the former while 3D buildings are created for more famous landmarks. Yes, we’ve seen the latter before but when combining the two the effects are certainly dazzling.
Impressively Navigon is also offering free real-time traffic updates over FM in the US (we’ll have to wait and see how that one works out in Europe) while the SiRF GRF3i+ GPS chip is a virtual industry standard.
05
May
2008
NaviGadget: Becker Traffic Assist 7977 was unveiled couple of months ago but it wasn’t until recently that it appeared on their own website.The new Traffic Assist 7977 is their top of the line GPS navigation system with a 4.3″ touch screen display, live traffic information, lane assistance, and maps for all of Europe.
Becker 7977 takes SD cards, and can even access media on USB drives making easier to access images and audio files. It has bluetooth interface too; so you can connect your bluetooth enabled phone and take and receive calls directly on your sat nav system. In addition Becker has reality view that comes up when you are approaching freeway junctions, something very similar to Navigon’s Reality View.