SiRF Technology, a supplier of GPS semiconductor and software solutions, announced Monday that its SiRFstarIIe/LP GPS technology provides the location platform for Navman's sleek new PiN (Personal Interactive Navigation) device.
The PiN is among a growing crop of personal Pocket PC products unveiled this year offering navigation as the principal function – a development that has expanded the functionality of PDAs from the office to the car.
"The SiRFstarIIe/LP provides a perfect combination of performance and power consumption well suited for our land navigation devices like the PiN," said Peter Maire, president of Navman.
"With excellent reception and time to acquisition, SiRF's chipset complements our innovative GPS technology and award-winning software, and helps us provide our customers with the best possible navigation experience."
Navman joins a fast-growing roster of consumer electronics manufacturers who have relied upon SiRFstarIIe/LP to location-enable a new generation of PDA-type navigation devices in time for the 2004 holiday season.
"Navigation is becoming one of the most sought after features in PDAs," according to Marc Prioleau, director of consumer and enterprise markets for SiRF.
"Combining location ability with more powerful mapping applications has created a natural and useful extension of PDA functionality. Navman has a long, successful history producing GPS products for this market, and we are proud to partner with them on the PiN."
"Navigation is breathing new life into the mobile handheld market, which had begun to level out," said Gerry Purdy, principal analyst at Menlo Park, Calif.-based research firm MobileTrax.
"As consumer demand for navigation takes off, savvy vendors such as Navman are responding with a new crop of well-designed, affordably-priced navigation bundles. We predict that a significant percentage of retail shelf space will be devoted to location-aware products this holiday season and beyond."
