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Michelin's ViaMichelin to exit the PND market
French paper La Tribune is reporting that Michelin subsidiary ViaMichelin will stop producing personal navigation devices, after capturing only 14% of its domestic market in the face of stiff competition from Dutch rival TomTom and others. Sixty of the firm's 170 employees will reportedly be laid off as a result of the shuttering, although warranties will apparently still be honored for products already on the market. [Warning: subscription link][Via Bikes in the Fast Lane]
ViaMichelin ships X-970 portable GPS navigator
Remember the cutesy X-970 from way back in March? If not, there's no need to panic, as ViaMichelin is just now getting around to releasing this thing en masse. Available now, the 3.5-inch X-970 features Bluetooth, text-to-speech, real-time traffic capability, a three-watt internal speaker and Michelin Green Guide content, which describes "thousands of attractions across the US and Canada." If this sounds like your kind of navigator, you can grab one now for $399. Click on through for a few more looks.
ViaMichelin hits CeBIT with pair of cheap 'n boring GPS units
The new X-960 and X-970T portable GPS units from ViaMichelin don't exactly break new ground, but they're both looking moderately stylish, and boast of enough specs to get by. On the low end, the X-960 keeps it simple with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 300MHz Samsung processor and 2 hours of battery life. The little guy measures 0.8-inches thick, and comes in "individual country" or "all of Europe" flavors for €229 ($301 US) and €299 ($393 US), respectively. Things get stepped up a bit with the X-970T (pictured), which sports a QVGA 3.5-inch touchscreen, 400MHz Samsung processor and 3 hour battery life, along with an external RDS/TMC receiver for traffic info and a hands-free Bluetooth setup. The device runs CE 5.0, holds 64MB of RAM, 128MB of ROM, and comes in similar SKUs to its little brother: €329 ($433 US) for maps of a single European country, €399 for all of Europe ($525 US). The X-960 is after the break.Read - X-960Read - X-970T
ViaMichelin X-930 GPS unit hits North America for $300
A few months ago, we spotted ViaMichelin's X-980T on the FCC's site, but with Europe-only maps, so that wasn't really too useful for those of us on this side of the pond. But ViaMichelin's pulled a fast one on us and has just released a model called the X-930 before the X-980T: its first entry-level device targeted specifically at North American consumers. It's got all the standard stuff that you'd expect from a unit of this caliber: a SiRF Star III receiver, 3.5-inch screen, SD card slot, 1.5 million points of interest plotted across maps of the US and Canada, 32MB of RAM, and a 312MHz processor. For now, it looks like New York electronics retailer J&R has a short exclusive on this one, and will be selling it for $250. However, other retailers should have it for $300 before the end of the month -- that is, assuming people can find those stores without the benefit of GPS.[Via Crave]
ViaMichelin's Navigation X-980T GPS gets by the FCC
It seems like ViaMichelin's last try at a handheld GPS unit, the X-950T, was a bit more svelte, but that one was a Europe-only device, while this new Navigation X-980T device of theirs just slipped by the FCC, so there's at least a chance of it showing up in the States. Unfortunately, the user manual that the FCC posted up only makes mention of Europe maps, so that kind of puts a damper on things. All the same, the device looks like it'll do the job, with an SD slot for maps, a finger or stylus-controlled touch screen, and not a whole lot else. We suppose it'll be out at such and such a time, for such and such a price, but with the Europe-only maps and an apparent complete lack of frills, we don't suppose it matters a whole lot.[Via MobileWhack]
ViaMichelin's Navigation X-950T GPS unit
Yeah, it's European GPS, which means it's of little or no use to us in the US, but for our, um, European weekend readers we present ViaMichelin's Navigation X-950T, featuring your now-standard SiRFStar III GPS receiver, FM radio, SD slot, and supportfor TMC (Traffic Message Channel) and sent via RDS (radio DATA system), so there ya go.[Via MobileWhack]
