This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. Find out more about how to manage cookies, or dismiss this message and continue to use cookies.
Can Navteq survive on $30 apps?
mvl
191 Points
Can Navteq survive on $30 apps?
With prices on good iPhone turn-by-turn apps dropping to $30, how can Navteq survive? I'm sure their original road-mapping business model was built around $200 in-dash DVDs.
How can they continue to provide quality map driving/research at such a cheap sales price? I'm assuming Nokia won't be willing to subsidize a Navteq division loss for too long.
With prices on good iPhone turn-by-turn apps dropping to $30, how can Navteq survive? I'm sure their original road-mapping business model was built around $200 in-dash DVDs.
How can they continue to provide quality map driving/research at such a cheap sales price? I'm assuming Nokia won't be willing to subsidize a Navteq division loss for too long.
Comments
My suspicion with Teleatlas is that they're charging a ton for speed profiles. I haven't seen a single non-Tomtom vendor that has them yet.
Everyone reading this knows that those companies don't create the map data themselves and know that the data isn't public domain. But you might be surprised at how much of the general public thinks that Google makes the maps of the USA and that the data is free for anyone to use how they see fit.
The $180 was purely a map upgrade (a new interstate was built in Boston in 07), containing identical (as far as I can tell) software, and it was shipped directly from Navteq (www.hondanavi.com).
These prices seemed "normal" to me. Everything I buy on a PND looks like a steal cost wise. And these iPhone apps just sound unsustainably cheap.
Also remember that the number of iPhones sold worldwide is approaching 30 million. That's a huge market and there should be economies of scale. But aside from all this, I don't think people will pay anymore than the current pricing for navigation apps. I am not even willing to pay that much personally since it's just not something that I want. For $100 you can buy a dedicated GPS which includes maps.
In the end, the market will decide as it always does.