The chief sales officer at Surat-based Swastik Masala, engaged in the manufacture and export of masalas (spices), is heaving a sigh of relief as volumes of spices, which were getting diverted and lost in books, are now being tracked, thanks to location based services (LBS). Big automakers, mobile makers, logistics companies and pharma companies are also using location-based services to track their consignment in an efficient manner. And for those working parents worried about their kids and left alone pets, a child phone, a watch and even a dog collar will soon be hitting the Indian shores. Geo-fencing, used with child location services, can notify parents when a child leaves a designated area.
Another exciting news is that personal navigation devices (PNDs) will soon become an all-in-one with bigger screens, TV, weather data, radio and internet, right in your car. Amit Kishore Prasad, MD & CEO, SatNav Technologies says, ?The growth of PNDs in the Indian market is catching up in the country. Most people are unaware of what exactly navigation can do and how it will help them in their daily lives. Some people are even amazed that the technology works in India. Now, with maps becoming easily available on handsets provided by the phone company, awareness levels on PNDs are all set for a greater push.?
Navigation devices in mobiles have been in the market for quite some time, but the latest service is voice navigation in smartphones. Due to its convenience nature, PNDs will have other useful features like music video, Bluetooth, etc in sync with mobiles for hand-free calling too. Similarly, LBS is also in demand which have features to track sales people, lost mobiles, vehicles and children.
Mobile handset makers insist that Indian consumers are already requesting for LBS applications, such as mapping, routing and navigation to be essential platforms in mobile devices. Going forward, 3G will change this space. Market research firms like iSuppli are predicting that by 2014, there will be virtually no more market for standalone devices for GPS. Naturally, handset makers will be looking at fulfilling this consumer need by making this feature available in more and more of their touchscreen phones and smartphones.
Increased awareness always leads to more demand. However, some of the corporate leaders are showing resistance for adoption of such technologies even while they see the need thus delaying the decision-making procedures. ?The demand for navigation devices will increase when there are economies of scale thereby reducing the grey market sales,? says Prasad.
Secondly, there is less of innovation in devices as the R&D takes place elsewhere, manufacturing mostly in China and only value-addition happens in the country. ?We are on par in terms of technology spread, but there is very little on innovation to reduce the cost of manufacturing,? he adds.
?We know that the future of PND is being debated. At least for the next three to four years, it can be safely said that till some major technology change first takes place, the mobile navigation phone and the PND will co-exist and grow together just like digital cameras and camera phones have in the last couple of years,? he opines.
SatNav Technologies, a leading player in GPS navigation, has introduced a range of devices in the personal tracking and live traffic information market, available for a nominal monthly charge to all those who already own smartphones. It has introduced SatGuide-Waze application in India and intends to work with smartphone users across the country for creating a live driving map, providing users with the real-time road intelligence they need for better everyday driving.
Map and traffic updates are auto matically collected and generated as users drive with SatGuide-Waze activated, but drivers can also actively report and update other users with what?s happening on the road including accident alerts, police patrols, weather hazards and more.
Nevertheless, industry players claim that a step-motherly treatment is being meted out to the GPS industry in the country. The companies import the devices every month from the manufacturer of GPS devices, load the devices with software and maps which is the intellectual property, and then sell the devices to the end customers through distributors and dealers across the country. The industry is hit hard due to an import duty of about 30% which is, in fact, fueling the grey market and affecting the serious players.
Besides, the industry claims that there are no set of processes for import of GPS devices or its classification. The industry has sought the government and customs department support to define some standard procedures with regard to classification of GPS devices and make the subjectivity go away from the interpretation at the time of import.
Another big issue which the industry is facing is the difference between import price and MRP published on the websites. There is no remuneration after spending cost on field surveys, map collection, road and building data, digitising the maps and compiling them for cities all across India apart from the costs of marketing, packaging and distributing the products across the country.