Mio sees consumer interest in combo GPS/TV

Last week at the Computex trade show in Taiwan,Mio Technologies presented two new Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs),Mio Moov V500 (4.7″display) and V700 (7″display) with a built-in digital TV tuner (DVB-T). This is the second range of PND/TV combo sold by Mio after last year’s Mio C728 which has been available for the Christmas season in Europe.

At this stage Mio is not providing pricing for these units but the Mio C728 (with a seven inch screen) was launched last year at €399 so we can expect a price tag below €300 for the V500 and slightly above for V700 device.

With these products Mio is trying to replicate in Europe (hence the DVB-T format chosen by Mio for these products –what has become a solid PND segment in Korea and in Japan. Mio has based the launch of these products on market research performed in Europe (see chart below). This research shows that user see a benefit of the product not only for passenger entertainment but also for out of the car use such as travel or outdoor vacations).

According to Samuel Wang,President of Mio Technology Corp. said:“The development of digital TV is already very mature worldwide,but so far the market demands for mobile TV solutions have still to be fulfilled. […] the new Moov V500 and V700 are the first of its kind to offer the perfect combination of professional navigation and rich digital TV content at an affordable price. “

With stalling sales of PNDs in Europe –which seems to be partly due to the lack of product differentiation between the key players on the market –Mio could have a business case in the PND/TV combo.