geekEleet

As submitted to http://acanac.org/blogs/geek/

GPS is quickly becoming a staple of the modern automobile.  I’m not sure what the stats are, but it seems that just about everyone has a GPS these days.  And why wouldn’t they?  GPS is a great tool that helps us know where we are and figure out where we are going.  With play by play instructions, paper maps have become obsolete.  Again, where is the downside?

The downside is in the companies that produce them.  My GPS came with my car.  It’s not built in, in fact, it’s a Magellan Maestro 3210.  It was a freebie from General Motors for my purchase of a Chevy Colorado this summer.  As an aside, I love my truck.  That being said, the maps in the GPS are limited to Canada only for some strange reason.  To make matters worse, they are from the first quarter of 2007.  That means that they were a year and a half outdated when I received it. 

[more]Now you can argue that what is free should not be complained about, but indeed these products are still for sale.  A while back, I visited the Magellan website in order to check for updates and I was very happy to see that an update was expected sometime in 2008. 

Well, yesterday I checked out their site again and saw that an update is now available!  I can now have the latest and greatest maps to help me navigate the world.  This update is a steal at only $79.99.  What?!?  They want me to spend $80 to have their inferior product updated?  That’s half the cost of a new device.  We’re not talking about new features here, just updated maps to support a product that millions of people have purchased. 

I wish Microsoft made a GPS dash unit.  They do have a USB GPS device that works with a laptop and Microsoft Streets and Trips, but that is cumbersome for the dash of the truck.  What’s so great about their product though that would make me want them to compete with the in-dash market?  Quarterly construction updates.  Every three months, Microsoft releases a map update through Windows Update that includes road changes and construction information and is available free of charge.

That’s the way it should be.  New products can be released every couple of years with new features and better operating systems, but the content (i.e. the maps) should be updated at least every quarter so that users get the best value for their money.  No need to rip people off.  I won’t be buying any Magellan GPS products again until they fix their business model.

Update:  While finalizing this post I discovered that Microsoft is indeed entering the portable navigation market by introducing a new operating system that targets GPS units.  It’s called Microsoft Windows Embedded NavReady 2009.  It’s currently expected for the 2008 holiday season.  More to come on that…