 Press Launch Covered by Dave Burrows and Darren Griffin
Navman hosted a Press launch day on September 7th 2004 and invited PocketGPSWorld.com and 13 other journalists from The Sun, Dennis Publishing, and Haynet Publishing to name a few companies. The main aim was for Navman to show off it's latest 2004/2005 line-up of products which is soon to be released and to re-affirm it's position in the GPS market. The launch took place in The Seattle Hotel, Brighton Marina, UK.
Click Image above to open a larger image
Many journalists and people in the GPS market were skeptical when Brunswick purchased 70% of Navman NZ stock in June 2003 and also when the remainder 30% of stock was purchased in June 2004 however, both Navman and Brunswick were very keen to show their hand on improving the current product line up in both In-Car GPS Navigation and Personal GPS Navigation and to re-affirm their position in the Global GPS market.
New products that will be launched include:-
- Navman Pocket iCN (iCN 510) - V3 Software
- Navman iCN 635 (successor to the 630) - V3 Software
- Navman iCN 650 (new model) - V3 Software
  
  
Click Thumbnail Images above to open a larger image
Journalists that attended from the top magazines and news publishers had the opportunity to sit in on a briefing hosted by Martin Capel-Smith (Navman European Marketing Manager) and Li-Lei Tsien (TeleAtlas Senior Marketing Manager Europe) and to also have a hands-on demonstration of each product whilst interviewing Navman staff on the new features and how they saw the market progressing.
After which the journalists that were brave enough were taken on several ZapCat's riding the crest of the ocean waves outside of Brighton Marina.
 
(Darren is in the left hand photo - top left trying to look rather cool unworried!)
 I winced out, but Darren decided to go through with it (although I think he was nervously thinking of bailing out). Whilst the other journalists incurred injuries (including two men overboard), I had the chance to sit down in a one to one interview with Martin Capel-Smith.
The whole day was a real blast, Navman spared no expense followed by an afternoon of drinking, an evening of being wined and dined by Navman staff, and having the chance to ask any questions that we had about the up and coming products and finally finishing the night off with some cocktails.
Far too much alcohol was consumed by all, and I think we all regretted it the next day, but that's what really makes a good product launch!
 
All of the products shown below will be released from October 2004, so you should see them appear in your favourite retailer around this time. On to the products....
Navman iCN 510 - Suggested Retail Price £499
This is a new beast, based around a Mitac (which as some of you may recall the PiN is based around the Mitac Mio 168). This is a new Pocket PC in landscape mode, running SmartST V3. You do not get to see the underlying operating system so it is very similar to the iCN product range. It comes complete with:-
 Navman iCN510
- 3.5" Colour TFT Touch Screen (320x240 pixels)
- European Base map on CD
- 32mb on-board memory
- 128mb SD
- Pre-installed with UK map on Storage Card
- Battery Life quoted as 4-5 hours
- Integrated flip-up antenna
- Speaker built into front panel (below keypad)
- Dedicated keys like Page, Zoom in/out and a sensitive cursor pad
- Stylus
- Jog (volume) dial
- SiRF XTrac 2 GPS chipset
- Accessories
- Carry (screen) Protective Carry Case
- Mains Power Charger
- In-Car Power Charger
- Windscreen suction mount
- Optional Remote Control
- V3 Software
- Topographical (basic style) maps
- Itinerary (multiple stops en-route)
- Base Roads of Europe
- Multiple Destinations (14 in total)
- Nearest POI to your location (e.g. Where's the nearest garage ?)
- Improved Next maneuver arrow icon with distant to move showing correct junction on roundabout to take
- Shortest Route vs Quickest Route with an Active Slider allowing you to customise how quick or show short you want the route on a sliding scale
- Active Points Of Interest
- Ability to Create, Import and Translate Custom POI's
- 2004 Map Data (Q3)
- Address to Address Postcode routing (only supporting 5 digits)
- Enhanced Route Summary
- Enhanced Zoom functionality
- Routing across rivers and inlets using shipping channels
 
 
Navman iCN 635 - Suggested Retail Price £699
This is the successor to the iCN630. It's the same style magnesium alloy case with a new 635 badge. This contains a 128mb SD card pre-installed with UK maps. It comes complete with:-
- Navman iCN635
- Using the same iCN630 brightest 3.8" Colour Screen
- UK map pre-loaded on Storage Card
- European Base pre-loaded on storage card
- 56mb on-board memory
- 128mb
- Integrated flip-up antenna
- Speaker built into rear panel
- Dedicated keys like Page, Zoom in/out and a sensitive cursor pad
- Accessories
- Remote Control as standard
- Carry (screen) Protective Carry Case
- Mains Power Charger
- In-Car Power Charger
- Windscreen suction mount
- V3 Software
- Topographical (basic style) maps
- Itinerary (multiple stops en-route)
- Base Roads of Europe
- Multiple Destinations (14 in total)
- Nearest POI to your location (e.g. Where's the nearest garage ?)
- Improved Next maneuver arrow icon with distant to move showing correct junction on roundabout to take
- Shortest Route vs Quickest Route with an Active Slider allowing you to customise how quick or show short you want the route on a sliding scale
- Active Points Of Interest
- Ability to Create, Import and Translate Custom POI's
- 2004 Map Data (Q3)
- Address to Address Postcode routing (only supporting 5 digits)
- Enhanced Route Summary
- Enhanced Zoom functionality
- Routing across rivers and inlets using shipping channel
 Navman iCN 650 - Suggested Retail Price £799
This is a new product based on the 635 but with some subtle differences.
- Navman iCN650
- Using the same iCN630 brightest 3.8" Colour Screen
- 2 Gb Non-removable Hard Drive
- Complete Western European Street map pre-loaded onto hard disk
- New colour graphite metallic case
- Integrated flip-up antenna
- Speaker built into rear panel
- Accessories
- Remote Control as standard
- Carry (screen) Protective Carry Case
- Dedicated keys like Page, Zoom in/out and a sensitive cursor pad
- Mains Power Charger
- In-Car Power Charger
- Windscreen suction mount
- V3 Software
- Topographical (basic style) maps
- Itinerary (multiple stops en-route)
- Base Roads of Europe
- Multiple Destinations (14 in total)
- Nearest POI to your location (e.g. Where's the nearest garage ?)
- Improved Next maneuver arrow icon with distant to move showing correct junction on roundabout to take
- Shortest Route vs Quickest Route with an Active Slider allowing you to customise how quick or show short you want the route on a sliding scale
- Active Points Of Interest
- Ability to Create, Import and Translate Custom POI's
- 2004 Map Data (Q3)
- Address to Address Postcode routing (only supporting 5 digits)
- Enhanced Route Summary
- Enhanced Zoom functionality
- Routing across rivers and inlets using shipping channels
 Remote Control
The remote control is a new feature introduced primarily for the Navman iCN635 and iCN650. This is an InfraRed remote control and works quite nicely with all the key buttons in easy to reach areas on the remote which make it ideal for when you are driving (although you shouldn't operate this whilst driving).
The Remote Control will also be available for Navman iCN 510 customers as an optional add-on as this also has a front facing InfraRed port.
Frequently Asked Questions We have put together a set of FAQ's that we think people will ask about the most.
Q. Will the optional remote control work on the iCN620 or iCN630 ?
A. No, the current iCN630 does not have an IR interface, although on the front face of the iCN630 it appears it does, it's just for show.
Q. Can I purchase the new V3 software and 2004 maps ?
A. Yes, you can purchase them for any of the iCN630 range (including 620). The 620 will not be able to take use of some of the enhanced features like 3D maps we are told.
Q. What is the cost of upgrade, will it be free ?
A. Nothing in life is free, and if it were free Navman would be making a loss in upgrades because they do have to pay license fees to TeleAtlas for every single copy distributed. There are two types of upgrades.
1) Upgrade to V3 software with UK or single country maps £79
2) Upgrade to V3 software with European maps £149
Q. Will I be able to purchase separate European and USA maps ?
A. Although it wasn't discussed, we believe so as Navman are currently allowing this with V2 Software.
Q. How will you be able to import POI's, which format will they need to be in ?
A. Although we weren't shown the import process because it was a non-technical demonstration, we were told that this would be via CSV format so any POI's that are available for CoPilot Live and TomTom Navigator could be converted back to CSV format to be used with Navman's new V3 Software.
Conclusion
That just about sums up the new product range and the activities that we had laid on for us by Navman Europe for the day.
We will be conducting a preview of the Navman iCN510. This will be available hopefully by 20th September 2004 which will not only show you more screenshots of the V3 software but also the iCN510.
We would like to thank Navman Europe, Iroquois and especially Nick Renshaw, Gary Bott, Martin Capel-Smith for an exceptional Press Launch and thanks to the rest of the Navman staff we talked with including David Wall, Roy, Martin and Marcus.
|
