Mio vs. iGO
The greatest news at CeBIT – at least for us – was that Nav N Go, creators of iGO, and Mio, an important company on the navigation market, had a quarrel. They weren’t throwing chairs at each other, but Nav N Go cancelled all cooperation saying that Mio broke the agreement between them. We have been informed about this while we were having a coffee at Nav N Go’s stand, holding an iGO 8 SD card in our hands, and talking with the officials there about how great it is that the stand is surrounded by Nav N Go’s partners like Mio. Well, did you see their latest products? No, why? Go over there and have a look.
This has a Navman now
We had a look. Mio’s latest family of products uses Navman as a navigation system, so we were only looking curiously. At 4 PM we were writing the article about Nav N Go not wanting to be Mio’s partner anymore, and although they couldn’t disclose any details because of a secrecy engagement, it was quite clear that the use of the Navman system was the reason. This raises a lot of questions that weren’t answered that day, but we went back the next day.
We’ve been asking questions from someone at Mio’s stand until the company’s European director appeared - he was finally willing to answer our questions in this delicate matter. Although we have already written these in the news, it’s still worth concluding the situation:
Mio bought Navman. From here it’s very clear that because of financial considerations they resolved the development of navigation software without a third-party company. The only problem is, that the millions of Mio users, having iGO-based maps, cannot upgrade their software, as Nav N Go is not giving out any more data to Mio, so all users need to start using the Navman system. They can download this (just a really small amount: 2 GB) or get it somehow on an SD card. This is an expensive procedure for Mio, but they have probably thought of the savings they can make by developing the software for themselves. They still won’t be able to do anything with the users who won’t be at all happy after getting used to iGo’s interface (although Mio’s president states that the Navman system is much better, from some points of view, than iGO) and about the fact that they will lack iGO’s famous map database of the Eastern European region.
On our way home we have received a call from Nav N Go: Mr. András Fazakas (COO), would have liked to share his thoughts about the topic. This has finally completely cleared up the situation. Users having a C310 Mio won’t be having any problems, as that has genuine iGO software. All other Mio’s, however, have MioMap, which is to be upgraded by Mio, so these users are forced to change to Navman, no matter they like it or not. Nav N Go has a contract only with Mio, not with the users, so displeased users have to complain at Mio. It’s a good question that how many users will do so, and if this has any importance at all. That’s because Mio does provide a kind of software for the navis, but if this is as good as the previous one… only time, and fortunately reviewers, will tell.
The box of the new iGO 8
Now that finally the new iGO is available, the situation gets more and more interesting. And it will get even more interesting as the first reviews get on the web (we are hurrying too), as iGO 8 seems to be a real hit at first glance. We came home from Hannover using this as navigation software and we were completely satisfied, it was worth waiting for the software, as it is simply good. Nav N Go and Mio will both feel the financial consequences of this quarrel, that’s sure. Mio believes that the savings made by developing the software themselves will be in balance with possible expenses, while Nav N Go concentrates their free resources on their other partners. Asus has also announced that they will also be using new iGO-based software in the future. They gave us an R700, on which the application ran at the speed of light.
A cikk még nem ért véget, kérlek, lapozz!
