kivanmaharaj.com

Seeing that planet earth is curently going into recession and I am not talking about the USA here, but all countries are expierencing some sort of issues and no fiscal or monetary policy will be of any assistance at the moment. What we need is to start creating jobs and opportunities in the global market place.

What better way to do it then to utilise the internet. But how do you ask with a slowdown in most economies people don’t have money to spend. Well I think this possibly the best time to start any type of web business as with the right product you can still make good cash.

 Lets look at what people need to still do in order to keep an economy going.

1. Travel

2. Food

3. Accomodation

4. Communicate

The above is the basics we need in todays modern age. I would like comments and ideas on how we can take these basic concepts and turn them into web businesses. Size is not the issue here, but sustainability is.

I will be breaking each of the above in the days to come.

As I discussed yesterday that GPS manufacturers needs to start adapting to a changing market place as mobile phones will be looking at taking their place in the consumer market as users are looking for the all in one device. I want a cellphone/Ipod/GPS and many other nifty pieces of software on my phone.

Well it looks like a company called Dash is try to bring some new features to you stock standard GPS unit , but at a cost, which might not totally work with some users.

I would suggest you read the venturebeat article

 Navigation 2.0 arrives today with Dash Navigation’s Dash Express GPS navigator (global positioning system). The gadget represents a new generation of smarter car navigation devices because it has two-way communication between Dash and the user.

One-way GPS systems from the likes of Garmin, Mio Technology, Magellan, and TomTom and can only be so helpful to you. They can show you where to go, using satellite signals to fix your location as you drive. You can search the on-board memory of the devices for “points of interest” that you may want to visit, like the city hall in a town. Some of them even send you traffic conditions over a one-way radio for a fee of $10 a month or more.

But Dash connects your gadget back to the company’s servers over cell phone (the nationwide GSM/GPRS network of Jasper Wireless) or Wi-Fi wireless Internet connections.

Dash uses “crowdsourcing,” where its own fleet of users communicates back their positions, speeds, and other data (including traffic reports from Inrix in Kirkland, Wash.) so that Dash can calculate traffic on both freeways and major side streets. This is a big advantage over other kinds of GPS navigation systems, and Dash recently decided to cut its price from $600 to $400. It goes on sale today at Amazon.com.

“There is an element of Web 2.0 meets GPS here,” said Mark Williamson, director of services for Dash. “Others get you from point to point. We can tell you what is around you.”

My colleague Matt isn’t so fond of the Dash Express, which I will acknowledge has some drawbacks. One of the problems is that it costs $12.99 a month to use some of the best features beyond GPS navigation. The question is whether users are going to care about all of the slight advantages that Dash has over other dumb GPS gadgets.

Maybe we might see an acquisition of Dash by one of the GPS manufacturers to shore up sales in a slowing market.

I read an interesting article on Gigaom which says the GPS market is slowing down as the main producer of GPS chips is expierencing a slowdown. The reality is that people are looking for an all in one device. Play music , find me a place (GPS) make a call , surf the web etc…

Mobile producers such as Nokia understand this are constantly working to give the fickle consumer what they want.

So it makes sense that at some point Garmin and its likes will be just a memory of what things used to be like.

Here is a copy of the article from Gigaom.com

SiRF Technology (SIRF), a San Jose, Calif.-based maker of GPS chips, this morning said it was cutting jobs and trying to restructure its business due to softening consumer demand. Already the worst performing tech stock for the year, shares of SiRF nosedived in early trading this morning.

“SiRF experienced greater-than-expected softness in product demand from its customers, especially in the PND, or Personal Navigation Devices market,” the company said in a press release.

SiRF is the canary in the GPS coal mine. In other words, the GPS device market has hit the skids and we should expect more bad news, and more dominoes to tumble. Why? Look at SiRF’s customers: Tom Tom, Magellan, NAVIGON, Sony and European white-label GPS maker, Binatone. If the macroeconomic trends are putting a damper on SiRF and its chip-buying posse, it isn’t hard to extrapolate and see trouble for Garmin as well.

Looking further out onto the horizon, I think the standalone GPS device market is going to get cannibalized by mobile phones, which are getting increasingly sophisticated when it comes to personal navigation functionality. GPS devices were among the hottest-selling consumer items this past holiday season, with sales up 214 percent and revenues up 488 percent, respectively, year-over-year. 

Lets see if the GPS companies can overcome the mobile producers and come up with something that Nokia cannot add to a mobile device.

Just a thought why does’nt Garmin and Tomtom add mobile phone features to its devices.