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Day 1 - IFA International

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News ‘New Era of

News ‘New Era of Innovation’ for Navigon and Garmin Jörn Watzke Navigon’s Executive Vice-President of Product Line Management Navigon Hall 9 Stand 203 Garmin Hall 9 Stand 210 by Max Leonard Just a month after the buy-out of German PND maker Navigon by US market leader Garmin, both companies presented new product lines at IFA, while hinting that rationalisation is on the horizon. "We will be keeping the Navigon brand for now," said Stefan Bernard, Garmin’s Director of Sales and Marketing, EMEA. “But we will be re-evaluating this in 2012." Regardless of any future branding changes, however, Navigon's R&D bases in Germany will continue to develop products “tailored to the European market", Bernard added. Navigon, meanwhile, launched its latest PNDs: the Easy Navigon 42 Series with a 4.3-inch display, the Plus Navigon 72 Series with a five-inch display and the Premium Navigon 92 Series with a five-inch display. "They all feature the Navigon flow interface, making navigation easier and safer," said Jörn Watzke, Navigon’s Executive Vice-President of Product Line Management. Garmin's affordable new nüVi 30-40-50 Series includes text-to-speech, lane-assist, speed-limit and junction-view features. The new premium nüVi 34xx is a super-slim model with features including live 3D traffic maps, safe texting and photo maps. John Cassat, Garmin’s Vice- President of Communications, is optimistic about the combined power of Garmin and Navigon. "With the milestone of these two great companies joining together, this is the beginning of a new era of innovation,” he said. Ford Accelerates Into Future Via CE and Software Pacts Ford’s Paul Mascarenas: offering drivers “a seamless experience” Thomson is launching a series of tactile tablets at this year’s IFA show. The MoFing 701 and MoFing 703 both feature seveninch multi-touch capacitive screens employing IPS display technology. Underscoring the importance of the user experience in the burgeoning tablet market, the top-ofthe range Thomson MoFing 907 is an innovative tactile tablet featuring a 9-inch high resolution, IPS multi-touch capacitive screen, built-in dual camera, GPS, Bluetooth, G-sensor, WiFi and optional 3G for the ultimate in digital media and connectivity enjoyment. What’s interesting about the MoFing series is that these units feature the all-new MoFing operating system. Exclusive to Thomson, this OS is fully compatible with all Android applications by Max Leonard Ford has put its foot down in the race to transform the driving experience through incar technology. A chain of partnerships with CE and tech giants Gracenote, Microsoft, NAVTEQ, Nuance Communications, Sony Corporation, TeleNav and ViaMichelin have helped to create SYNC, an integrated communications, voicecontrolled and in-car entertainment system that will launch throughout Europe in 2012 in Ford Focus models. At the Ford press conference, Paul Mascarenas, the company’s Chief Technical Officer and Vice President They Don’t Just Make TVs and games, and includes an ergonomic 3D user interface. Featuring a multitasking environment and the so-called e-Smart Media Market, users can access thousands of practical and fun applications. A new Thomson e-reader has also been announced here at IFA. The ultra-thin Pyrus 609 measures only 9.6mm and weighs-in at only 172 grams. A no-glare, high-contrast screen gives the Pyrus what Thomson claims to be “one of the best black and white screens on the market”. 2GB of built-in storage gives the unit the capacity to store up to 2,300 books, with the option to expand this to 8GB via an SD card slot. Read more about the onslaught of tablets at IFA in our special feature in this edition, page 21. Hall 21.E Stand 101 of Research and Advanced Engineering, said that SYNC delivers three key features: in-vehicle connectivity with mobile devices via Bluetooth and USB; voice recognition and touch-screen control; and automated emergency assistance. Ford is also introducing MyKey in Europe next year. The smart key encourages safety in young drivers by warning them when a pre-determined maximum speed is reached. It also caps the volume of in-car entertainment. Looking down the road, Mascarenas announced the launch next year of Evos, a hybrid concept car that will be permanently connected to the cloud. It will intuitively learn your music, driving style and route preferences, as well as monitoring and adapting to your stress levels while driving. "The Evos combines stunning design and stitches together real-time information via GPS, wi-fi, cellular and cloud data to give the driver a seamless experience,” Mascarenas said. Hall 2.2 Stand 102 www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 2 nd September 2011 9

IFA International