Updated: MapmyIndia has now tied up with Ford. The MapmyIndia Navigator is now included with the Navi Gear package of Ford Endeavour and it is also offered as a new accessory feature available at all authorized Ford dealerships across India, which can be fitted on all Ford vehicle range, including the Ford Fiesta, Ikon, Fusion and the Endeavour.
Original Post: MapmyIndia the Indian startup which provides detailed maps at different zoom levels on the Net and related applications like Mapsearch, eLocation, Driving Directions & Local Search and that extended it core competency offline by launched a in car navigator late last year has now set its sight on selling atleast 1 lakh of those navigator devices.
Rohan Verma, director of MapmyIndia told business standard about his companies plans, “PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices) are quite new to the country but with companies like Ford, General Motors and Sony Ericcson promoting these devices through their car and mobile handset sales the concept is going to be popular. We intend to sell around 100,000 devices by March 2009 and are targeting at a million plus sales within next three years”
At the time of the launch we had shown concern over the price of the device which was about Rs.22,000 then. But MapmyIndia went the tie up route and soon struck a deal with General Motors to bundle navigator as a add on accessory for their luxury cars.
Mapmyindia has been very active in taking their maps offline be it the navigator or even the mobile device with a GPS based solution for Windows Mobile 6 phones. There were also hints dropped by Rohan of taking the maps to TV at the last IAMAI conference. They have competition in this space from the likes of
All in all it does seem that MapmyIndia plans to take maps everywhere though the navigator could be their trump card as it does have potential as a product within luxury segment cars which is growing rapidly in India. Sale of a million such devices would mean 50 Million $ in revenue which if achieved would mean a windfall for the VC’s Nexus India Capital which backed MapmyIndia in its early days with 2.5 million $ and lately Kleiner Perkins and Sherpalo ventures.
PS – You can also watch our exclusive interview on WATShow with Rohan Verma of MapmyIndia
