Ah, the connected PND is not dead (reminds me of the kids with the "punk is not dead" shirts; methinks they protest too much). Anyway, the mid-range TomTom XL LIVE and XL LIVE TTS (text-to-speech) have cleared the FCC, and should be announced shortly, probably in early September.
Introduced in Europe earlier this summer, the US version of the XL LIVE series is expected to be similar to the GO 740 LIVE, minus Bluetooth and voice command. In this economy, I doubt that many folks will be willing to sign up for the anticipated $9.99 per month fee for connected services, but hey, if their reported 30% renewal rate holds, that’s still quite a few folks on the hook for a recurring fee.
It will be interesting to see if Garmin manages to avoid the subscription model with their forthcoming nuvi 1690. Regardless, we continue to see high-end features creeping farther down the product line, and this should increase pressure on competitors looking to differentiate their products.
About Rich Owings
