Podcast: Tipping Point for Personal Navigation Devices?

Darren Koenig, Wireless Market Director for Tele Atlas, provided insights on how the market for personal navigation devices is set to exponentially explode and why we are perhaps at a tipping point. He explained how both the in-vehicle and personal navigation devices markets will benefit from wireless network infrastructure development and why certain market segments, of varying demographic composition, are likely to buy both types of devices, and why generational differences are not a hindrance to widespread market indulgence. Editor-in-chief Joe Francica conducted the interview on July 23, 2007. The interview is approximately 18 minutes long.


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NAVTEQ, GeoEye Stars Rising with Stock Analysts; Are Acquisitions Not Far Away?

NAVTEQ’s (NVT) star seems to be rising again as the stock was up over 8% today after it made a presentation at Lehman Brother’s Wireless conference. Still off its 52-week high of $45 per share, the company’s recent acquisitions of Traffic.com and The Map Network may have given the analysts something to think about when it hears things like "a GPS in every phone" and "the number of vehicles offering nav systems is tripling." In other words, the market for map and map-related data is soaring and NAVTEQ is holding the keys to the kingdom. Plus, the message boards were ripe with rumors of a takeover. Although this is not new news, the possibility of NAVTEQ or Tele Atlas being acquired by someone like Microsoft, Yahoo, or Google offers a unique, and I would say, monopolistic move to dominate the opportunities of location-based services.

I would also suggest that a satellite data provider like GeoEye (GEOY), a company whose stock was up 5.5% today, is another takeover candidate by the aforementioned threesome. With Microsoft announcing new street level, 3D viewing features in VE, Yahoo creating its own mapping platform, and Google vying to get KML as an OGC standard, there is ample evidence that "maps" are a sustaining battleground in a Web 2.0 world. Therefore, is it a stretch to think that foundation data like streets and satellite imagery would not be on the acquisition list of the big three? In less than 12 months, we’ll have an answer.

Podcast: A Look at Q1 Geospatial Earnings

We take a look at some of the latest earning reports from geospatial companies and try to tease out what’s going on. Among the companies discussed: Trimble, Garmin, NAVTEQ, Pitney Bowes and Bentley, which as a private company, issued an annual report.

The podcast is 13 minutes long (5 MB) and was recorded on May 7, 2007.

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NAVTEQ Growth Signals Continued Market Awareness for Location-based Content

I consider NAVTEQ (NVT) a bellwether stock in the geospatial marketplace and today’s quarterly financial report is an indication that growth in location-based content and geospatial information continues to grow. NAVTEQ reported record growth with a rise of 87% in net income over Q1 2006. The growth in coming from the in-vehicle and portable market. Digital map license revenue grew from$118 million in Q1 2006 to $150 million in Q1 2007; cash and cash equivalents more than doubled at the end of the quarter year over year. CEO Judson Green notes that "The business is performing very well and we see positive signs for the remainder of the year." He also noted that the Traffic.com acquisition has closed and the company has released its first Thailand map, the company’s 60^th country. 

It is interesting to note that the "goodwill and other intangibles" category was pegged at $211 million nearly tripling the value from 2006. This is generally a "catch-all" category but relates directly to the "branding" of the company and its visiblity in the marketplace.

What’s the Traffic Like at 8:00 a.m.; How about 8:15? Maybe I’ll Work from Home Today…

If you’re wondering about the best time to leave your house for your commute to work, Inrix thinks they have the answer. Inrix has patented its predictive traffic modeling technology and they are now bringing to market a subscription-based solution for consumers. For $39.95 per year, Inrix will offer predictive traffic data for Windows Mobile devices, the first such solution to offer both predictive and real-time information, says Inrix’s Bryan Mistele, president and CEO. Mistele says that the goal of the company is to offer a "white label" solution to platform partner like TCS, TeleNav and eMbience so that they can create products to offer to mobile carriers. The announcement that Inrix is making today is a full release, not a beta, and the application can be downloaded from Handango.

Inrix’s Dust Network is the foundation for this solution, a collection of 650,000 commercial vehicles that participate in a program to collect real-time and historical traffic information. I can imagine that, at this price point, it’s a "no brainer" to try because I suspect that once you use it, you’ll be hooked. I intend to try the product and I’ll give an update as to it’s usability and if anyone wants to provide feedback, let’s know by responding to the post. For people in Seattle, Atlanta, the Bay Area, LA, Chicago, Dallas, and other congested cities it could mean both travel time and thus fuel savings. If you can save 3 minutes of travel time per day, 15 minutes per week and translate that into 13 hours per year, I would dare say that at the professional salary of $30/hour or more, it pays for itself in little more than one month. Of course if you elect to avoid the traffic and work from home…that works too.