Philips loses interest in navigation
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Steers clear of crowded market Philips has gone into reverse on plans to enter the market for personal navigation devices because of fears the sector is getting too crowded.â¦
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LONDON, November 25  - Dutch electronics and semiconductor giant, Philips (PHI1.ETR), has sold its entire stake in the French media company, Vivendi Universal.
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Irate drivers to favour new Nav-U's gesture control? IFA 06 Sony will update its Nav-U GPS-based route-planning product in November, the consumer electronics giant said today. It promised the upcoming widescreen NV-U80 and NV-U81T gadgets will deliver better-than-the-rest accuracy for speed and location.â¦
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Royal Philips Electronics, one of Europeâs largest makers of medical equipment and electronics, said it would more than double profit by 2010 as it streamlines the company. The chief executive, Gerard Kleisterlee, left, said the company was also pursuing acquisitions in health care, lighting and consumer lifestyles, with a focus on emerging markets, namely those in Asia. âWe are always in talks,â he said. âThe timing of acquisitions is always unpredictable.â Philips is paring its business units into three sectors, which will save an estimated 150 million euros to 200 million euros ($205 million to $274 million) by 2010, Mr. Kleisterlee said.
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(InfoWorld) - Satellite navigation boxes using the GPS (global positioning system) are no longer the preserve of luxury car owners in Europe. Now you see them in the humblest vehicles on the Continent's highways. That's part of the reason why the European Commission Wednesday proposed taking on the entire â¬3.4 billion ($4.7 billion) cost of creatingÂ Galileo, Europe's answer to GPS, which is based in the U.S. "Do consumers really want this product? To answer that you must ask why consumers like GPS so much," said transport commissioner Jacques Barrot at a press conference Wednesday. "Consumers are answering the question by buying more and more GPSes," he said. "Galileo will make money, and with the E.U. as its owner, it will generate income for the E.U. budget." Barrot's confidence wasn't shared earlier this year byÂ the companies picked to share the cost and benefitsÂ of building the 30-strong constellation of satellites. Unsure of the costs and unconvinced of Galileo's eventual commercial potential, theÂ companies dragged their feetÂ to a point in June where the Commission abandoned the partnership with the private sector. Under the original plan, public money was supposed to pay for the first four satellites and then the private consortium of companies building the satellites were to pay for two-thirds of the 26 remaining satellites. This amounted to a private sector cost of â¬2.4 billion. The companies -- AENA, Alcatel-Lucent, EADS, Finmeccanica, Hispasat, Inmarsat, TeleOp, and Thales -- were to recoup their investment costs by then operating the satellites and collecting fees once they were in operation. Barrot said Wednesday that the Commission wants the â¬2.4 billion to be paid for out of European Union funds. The E.U. has already committed â¬1 billion to the project. He said that he initially wanted the 27 member states of the E.U. to fill the funding gap through payments directly to the European Space Agency (ESA). But as 10 countries in the E.U. aren't members of the ESA this was dismissed, leaving the E.U. budget as the only possibility for ensuring that the project is financed. With the E.U. as the sole owner of Galileo, it will still need companies from a variety of industries to build the system's infrastructure, Barrot said. Astrium (EADS group) and Thales Alenia Space (Thales and Finmeccanica groups) approached the ESA for some of this work recently, the commissioner said. "Galileo is extremely important for the strategic autonomy of Europe. We can't let this opportunity to manage the know-how in this advanced technology pass," Barrot said. Transportation ministers of the E.U. member states will meet in Luxembourg on Oct. 2 to debate the Commission's proposal. Countries with most to gain from the project include France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. They are believed to support the Commission. However, others including the U.K. and the Netherlands, remain to be convinced that there is a real need for a European GPS. Separately, U.S. president George W. Bush said in a statement issued by the U.S. mission to the E.U. Wednesday, that he will stop the GPS signal from being interrupted or degraded by military purposes. One of the main justifications for launching Galileo was that GPS is ultimately at the mercy of the U.S. Department of Defense, and could be jammed for strategic reasons, potentially endangering private users' lives. Galileo is intended to be purely for civilian use. However, the U.S. recently has taken steps to assure GPS users that they can count on the system. "President George W. Bush has accepted a recommendation to end procurement of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites that have the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals," the White House press secretary said in a statement Tuesday. Although the U.S. stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals in May 2000, this new action will result in the removal of "Selective Availability" capabilities, thereby eliminating a source of uncertainty in GPS performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide. This decision reflects the nation's commitment to GPS users that this free global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil activities around the world, the statement said.
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The head of the chip division of electronics group Philips unexpectedly stepped down on Wednesday, raising worries that the key division is performing below expectations.
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Manufacturers of satellite navigation  devices are loading up their gadgets with features from audio  sightseeing guides to three-dimensional city views as they seek  to differentiate themselves in a crowded market.
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(InfoWorld) - Nokia Corp. has added new features to its mobile mapping application, with a revamped user interface and a status indicator to alert users when they're connected to a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. The new version of Nokia Maps is free and became available for download on Tuesday. Other improvements include a more refined "nearby" search feature, which scouts out preprogrammed points of interest on the maps based on where the user is located. Basic route planning is free, although users may incur data transfer fees from their carriers. Other navigation upgrades are available for a fee. Nokia charges for a voice-guided navigation feature as well as other city and travel guides. Guides contain information on local cafes, music and clothing stores, museums and Wi-Fi hotspots, Nokia said. Nokia is offering a three-day trial for some of the advanced navigation features. Nokia said map data will be available for 150 countries by the end of 2007, with 50 of those able to use the application's navigation feature. Nokia has published a list of countries for which a navigation license is sold. Also improved is the PC Map Loader application, which lets users load maps onto their devices from their home computers before needing a map on the road. That function is now 10 times faster. PC Map Loader is also a free download. The mapping application,Â launched in February, is compatible with devices running on Symbian Series 60 second and third edition operating systems. Â
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When we look for point-to-point directions online, sometimes we deny ourselves the fun of a journey
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With PDA sales slumping, company is planning new devices.
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Nokia, Motorola are set to offer their own navigation services, which could put them in competition with mobile operators.Photos: Nokia, Motorola navigators
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Europe's proposed satellite-navigation system is in danger of running into further delays and cost overruns.
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The TomTom One G.P.S. receiver doesnÂt play videos or MP3Âs. It does just one thing: help you find your way.
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Company hasn't said when the device will be available.
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Two days after announcing that the head of its semiconductor business will leave the company, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV on Friday lowered its forecast for the chip division&#39;s third-quarter sales.
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But Sony's LocationFree TV and other devices show there can still be stumbling blocks to a total HD experience.
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Dow Jones/AP) -- Royal Philips Electronics NV Friday lowered the outlook for its semiconductors division and its industry growth prediction, giving another indication that the sector is experiencing a slowdown due to high inventory