Technical issues and market slowdown hamper the arrival of personal navigation devices or PNDs that run on cellular networks, according to ABI Research
Technical difficulties, carrier agreements and the general economic climate have been the main reasons for the delays, according to ABI research director Dominique Bonte.
Bonte said: "For many PND vendors, cellular connectivity is a completely new project representing a huge challenge in terms of implementation, the development of new services, and the negotiation of agreements with carriers.
Moreover, she noted that the worsening economic climate, slowdown in market growth, and profitability issues faced by most vendors have resulted in connected PNDs ranking lower on all parties' priority lists.
Nonetheless, ABI noted Mio has announced its first connected PND for the Asia-Pacific market, aimed at professional users and supporting phone calls and local search.
The Moov 380 will be launched in Taiwan at the end of 2008 and will offer 2.75G and 3G connectivity based on Qualcomm chipsets.
"While there is no doubt connected PNDs will become widespread, vendors will face an ongoing challenge in developing a wide range of compelling real-time services and educating users about the benefits of connected navigation," Bonte said.