Or so the vendor claims… The real test will be if this product is intuitive enough to be used without referring to any instructions or documentation.
CeBIT Australia 2008 Special Report
The Australian arm of LASER Corporation has unveiled what the company claims is the worlds most user friendly and easiest to use portable GPS navigation unit specifically for the Australian market.
Adorned with the ‘For Dummies’ branding licensed from Wiley Publishing Inc, the Maylong Group sourced GPS unit is intended for “the most notorious and resistant technophobe”
With similar GPS units sporting the same branding available in the Americas for several months now, this announcement somewhat marks the start of the introduction of the ‘For Dummies’ branded Consumer Electronics into Australia.
The Australian version of this GPS navigation unit, dubbed the GPS-FD250 sports 2008 Australia Maps from NAVTEQ in 2D or 3D or media playback via a ‘For Dummies’ themed user interface displayed on a 3.5” Touch screen or an optional 4.3” model.
Based on a brief demonstration of a preview unit at CeBIT, other than the friendly themed User Interface we are yet to be convinced of the ease of use or benefits of this particular GPS Navigation unit offered compared to the dozens of other competing offerings in the market, many of which are very similar if not identical.
However, LASER Australia assured NitroWare.net that their offering would fit the bill two fold; First by offering the familiar ‘For Dummies’ branding that consumers know and secondly by switching map providers after the product launches from the popular NAVTEQ sourced maps to a currently un-named provider as this alternative offering will supposedly offer a ‘new experience that is revolutionary to GPS Navigation’
While NitroWare.net welcomes the innovation in this market sector as it is flooded with ‘clone’ products which mainly differentiate by style and branding, we will have to wait and see wether the claims made about this navigator stack up or not by means of our upcoming product review and if a technology switch for a product that is intended for ‘technophobes’ is a good thing.
The GPS-FD250 ‘GPS Navigation FOR DUMMIES’ will be available starting July 2008 with a recommended price of $279 AUD
Availability is planned via the I.T distribution channel from firms such as Ingram Micro or traditional Australian bricks and motor retail chain stores such as Harvey Norman, The Good Guys and Retravision.
Further Information:
http://www.gpsnavigationfordummies.com/ (Americas only)
http://www.laserco.com.au/ (Australia)