The Hindu Business Line : SatNav develops GPS software for small mobiles

Hyderabad, Nov. 18 SatNav Technologies Ltd has brought about a fundamental change in its software design to enable even smaller mobile handsets to handle global positioning systems (GPS), a feature that aids navigation.

This was earlier possible only in devices with larger screens, where the minimum screen size was about 240x320 mm. But the Hyderabad-based company has now made a compressed version to suit smaller screens and even match mobile phone needs.

To complement this change, it is in talks with hardware manufacturers to help drive down the cost of hardware. The company has already made its GPS software more affordable and believes that lower-priced handsets would help this nascent market grow.

Expanding footprint

The company is expanding its footprint in India by adding 30 major cities to its GPS list, and upgrading facilities in six cities where it is already offering the services. All these cities would go live by the month-end.

The Managing Director of SatNav Technologies, Mr Amit Kishore Prasad, said that in the last four months, the company has sold over 8,000 units and with the launch of the new GPS facilities in 30 more cities by month-end, the market is poised for an upswing.

Mr Prasad told Business Line that the company had earlier this year announced plans to invest $10 million in the company to expand its operations geographically and strengthen its portfolio of products. Of this, about $2 million would be invested during the year.

“From our start-up days, when we emerged out of Satyam, the company has added a slew of products that have the potential to cover a wide range of applications that include facilities management software suite and GPS related products,” he said.

Utility, novelty

The GPS Navigation system in the global marketplace is passing through a consolidation phase. Navteq was acquired by Nokia, TomTom is likely to get TeleAtlas, and the mapping world is getting polarised.

“As the industry consolidates, we have positioned SatNav as an independent player for vehicle navigation and GPS applications. Trends point towards a scenario where most phones would be shipped out with navigation capability both from utility point of view as also the novelty element,” he felt.

Further, the utility aspect of GPS systems is gathering ground for usage in vehicles even though car manufacturers in India are yet to offer the feature. The best part of this growth is that it cuts across age groups and a good number of people who have been using such systems abroad now want them, he said.

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