Navigon USA folds
Following several days of speculation in blogs and on message boards, Navigon CEO Egon Minar has confirmed that they will “withdraw from the PND business in North America.” Though they are saying this is “for the time being,” I seriously doubt that they will ever reverse this decision. Navigon is keeping their Chicago office open, but it is unclear what level (if any) of support services will remain, or if Navigon owners will be able to purchase new services.
Navigon has been a major force in the U.S. PND market for the past couple of years. They were the first manufacturer to introduce reality view, lifetime traffic and map update subscriptions. I am especially sad to see them go now, since they were on the verge of bringing MyRoutes technology to a new product line. Navigon also helped drive prices down, bringing these new feature sets to low and mid-range models.
Coming barely a month after Mio’s near desertion of the U.S. market, this leaves us with only a handful of major players, in various states of health:
- Garmin – Clearly the market leader, they appear to be in good shape financially. Nevertheless, they have not exactly been a leader in innovation. Perhaps the ever-increasing cellular navigation market will force them to be more proactive in this regard though. We can only hope.
- TomTom – Still reeling financially from their purchase of Tele Atlas, they have been reported to have a weak commitment to the PND market.
- Magellan – Recently purchased by MiTAC (Mio’s parent company), which has shown a great ability to drive brands into the ground and flounder without direction.
- Nextar – This low-end manufacturer, fresh off a strong 2008 holiday season, may benefit more than others by Navigon’s departure from the U.S. market.
Regardless, this really isn’t surprising. Though the specific reasons may not have proven one hundred percent true, I predicted that Navigon would fold this year. The real losers in this are the consumers though, as we have fewer choices and have lost one of the key drivers of innovation in a market that has so much more that can be done.
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by the way I have a 7200 series. aefranklin
You might want to try asking at http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewforum.php?f=38 and/or http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=71
This Sucks! Mine locked up and caint get help.
I own the navigon 2090s, 2100 max which I accidently ruined. I love my navigon gps. I was quite upset, when I found out, they left the us market. I bought,a garmin 785t. Doesn’t even come close to navigon. The graphics suck! Too loud. Reality-view sucks. Bring back navigon, please!
I have had my Navigon 2100T since 2008 and have loved it. Being that I drive back and forth from Virginia to Wisconsin. So far I have not updated the maps on it once and still runs like a champ. It sucks to see them go as I was getting ready to purchase another one but noticed that they have folded and the only thing close to getting another one is a download for your smart phone. Not sure if I even want to do that being that I have read a couple of bad reviews in regards to the application. I hope that they come back to the US as I have found their GPS to e three times better then all the others on the market!!! PLEASE COME BACK NAVIGON…
Wow! sad to see them go, that sucks. I was loking to buy my dad one, I loved thier products, best graphics and overall functionality. Hope they return to US or at least keep the updates for a few more years. I have the 2100 since 2008 and the 7200t since last year and they work great. I bought a freshmaps card at Staples for $30, before I knew they folded, I got on to Navigon Fresh, and the software upgrade still works, new features and colors where installed and it appears the maps for 2010 Q3 where uploaded to my 7200t as the size of my backup increased. However, I was unable to confirm the map version as I can’t locate it on the device. Anyone know how? I will try updating the 2100 and write what happens. Even if updates are no longer available you can still use the system for many years to come, especially in the big cities where not much will change.
I have Navigon map updates available for some units. maps are for the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 2010). Email me at zorbanyc@yahoo.com with your model number.
I tried to update my unit two days ago and the support page came back with out of date unit and map. I purchased the unit in late 2008.
Is anyone still following this Navigon posting ? If so, do you think we will get any more map updates after the 4th Qtr 2010?
I need a power cord for the 2100. Generic ones wont work.
I see some on eBay.