Japan's Latest Navigation Offerings: What Features Translate To Other Regions?

Japan

ABI Research: It's common industry knowledge that Japan is the dominant region for in-vehicle navigation, sporting a larger market itself than most continents, and product offerings that are far more advanced. May is traditionally the month when Japanese aftermarket vendors announce their new navigation systems for the coming year. So which features will become must-have items in the Japanese market, and what might make its way to North America and Europe? Last year's big new feature was 3D navigation. It was tremendous that navigation systems could actually display buildings' facades, and even lane markers. This year we're seeing more integration of entertainment-centric features. Fujitsu Ten is going to offer a disc changer. Models from Clarion, Kenwood, and Pioneer can control an iPod. Pioneer has even added a standard USB port. Virtually every vendor now supports playback of audio and video from flash media cards. But can drivers outside Japan look forward to these features any time soon? Not all of them. On other continents, vendors have been cautious about having the price points of devices creep up to the Japanese level, which can exceed US$3,000. More of the developments elsewhere have been with regard to price reduction. But it doesn't cost much to add a USB port or a flash card reader, so these are the kinds of improvements we expect to see within the next year or so .Aftermarket Navigation, Infotainment, and Telematics Research Service Publ 20050524