By Sarah Falson

SYDNEY: Two major in-car satellite navigation players are lowering their price offerings in Australia from today, in the hope that it will propel more customers to invest in the technology and further saturate the growing market.

Dutch GPS hardware maker, TomTom, and New Zealand-based Navman both announced today that they’ll be offering their customers cheaper deals on selected in-car navigation units, with both companies also boasting large chunks of the Australian GPS market share.

“We’re very committed to making sure personal navigation products are available for mass the market. The better value for money you provide, the more customers consider buying your product. We see this as an opportunity to provide great value for money and a compelling offer,” said newly-appointed TomTom Australia CEO, Andrew Cooper. 

TomTom’s range will now be priced at RRP $499 for the TomTom ONE (down from RRP $649), RRP $699 for the TomTom GO 710 (down from RRP $969) and RRP $899 for the TomTom GO 910 (down from RRP $1,119).

The company has also released two new GPS products in the past week — the TomTom Rider made specifically for motorbike use (price TBA) and the high-end TomTom One XL (price TBA) with a 4.3-inch screen.

According to GfK data from September to December 2006, TomTom owns 45 per cent of the value market in Australia.

“TomTom is the largest car navigation company in the world, with an in-store base of eight million units. We’ve played a key role worldwide in bringing this technology to market, and this is one of the reasons for the price movements,” said Cooper.

“We are known for leading innovation, and value for money. We own 50 per cent market share in Europe, and that is what we’re aiming for in Australia.”

Navman is hot on the heels of TomTom with 38 per cent value market share, and has just announced its best-selling product, the F20, will drop in price from RRP$629 to RRP$499, with Sensis WhereIs offering $50 cash back on GPS devices purchased this month and next month, lowering further the price of the F20 to $449.

“The F20 is the ultimate entry-level product for drivers looking for a simple, yet comprehensive navigation unit and now also represents great value,” said a spokesperson for Navman.

“During the Christmas period approximately 60,000 GPS units sold were in the Australian market, the Navman F20 proved to be the most preferred GPS device with approximately a 17% sales majority, placing it as the highest selling product in market [in terms of units, according to GfK data].”