Showing the way

TECHNOLOGY: Car navigation systems are just about taking off in India, but they may not be so popular due to their steep price.

Next time you look for your tattered road map tucked in some corner of your car to try and find that elusive destination, do remember that there are technology options out there that can help the directionally-challenged.

You can find your way with a slick PDA-based voice-enabled device dubbed the Nippo Satguide. It is a (GPS based) car navigation system from the house of Nippon Audiotronix.

With an advanced routing engine, digital road map and a touch screen, this helps drivers navigate to any location. The working is simple. Pre-set the destination address in the control unit.

The satguide will display a route map on the screen and advise you when to turn left or right or head straight. Voice-enabled, this system also asks you take a U-turn in case you have taken a wrong turn.

Priced at Rs 38,000, it comes bundled with the roadmap of two cities of your choice. For any additional city, the charge is Rs 3,000.

"We have already sold 600-700 pieces in the last six months since we launched the product and we are hoping to sell over 3,000 by the year end," says Kanwaljeet Singh Goindi, managing director, Nippon Audiotronix.

Sceptics doubt these sale projections. "This is not a dedicated navigation device but part of PDA which keep getting obsolete. At Rs 38,000 the product is not worth the buy," says an industry source.

The product is also limited by geography, with only five cities covered so far "" Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

There are others, however, who are betting on car navigation devices. Bangalore-based Mobiapps is coming out with a portable navigation device (a dedicated navigation instrument, unlike a PDA) with an inbuilt GPS module. Its product, which is going to be 20-30 per cent cheaper than existing products, will have 20-25 navigation-based features.

"Mobiapps plans to launch its product in the Middle East and in Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia in the next one-and-half months and will be ready to launch in India around end of first quarter 2007," says Satish Kulkarni, vice president, sales and marketing, Mobiapps.

Going by the Indian psyche, these products will have value for money only when the prices come down, and when the maps are exhaustive. And even then, there is always the option of asking the group at the roadside kiosk for directions...for free!