Eight Goodyear-branded GPS units to be released at CES

Goodyear announced today that it's licensed out the Goodyear name for series of eight GPS units to be designed and manufactured by a New York company called The NCC. The forebodingly-named ODM actually got its start making Christmas lights about ten years ago -- "The NCC" actually stands for "The National Christmas Company" -- but it's been making electrical equipment under the Westinghouse and Stanley brand names for nearly eight years now. The NCC's eight Goodyear GPS units will be its first push into higher-end consumer tech, and will range all over the map from the GY100K keychain receiver to the GY540 4.3-inch touchscreen device (pictured) with Bluetooth handsfree controls, media playback capabilities and a free year of MSN Direct. These are all expected to hit in Q208, check out some appallingly weak renders in the gallery and all the specs after the break.

Gallery: NCC Goodyear GPS Units

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• GY100K (keychain)
• SiRF Star III
• Bluetooth
• 10-hour battery life
• GY130
• 3.5-inch touchscreen
• Centrality GPS chip
• 324MHz Atlas III CPU
• 64MB internal storage, 1GB SD
• WinCE 5.0
• MP3 playback
• 6-hour battery life
• GY140
• 4.3-inch touchscreen
• Centrality GPS chip
• 300MHz Atlas II CPU
  
• 64MB internal storage, 1GB SD
• WinCE 4.2
• MP3 playback
• 6-hour battery life
• GY230
• 3.5-inch touchscreen
• Centrality GPS chip
• 400MHz Samsung ARM9 CPU
  
• 2GB internal storage, 1GB SD
• WinCE 4.2
• MP3 / AVI playback
  
• 8-hour battery life
• GY330
• 3.5-inch touchscreen
• SiRF Star III GPS chip
• 400MHz Samsung ARM9 CPU
  
• 2GB internal storage, 1GB SD
• WinCE 5.0
• Optional MSN Direct access
• MP3 / AVI playback
• FM transmitter
• A/V inputs
• 8-hour battery life
• GY340
• 4.3-inch touchscreen
• SiRF Star III GPS chip
• 400MHz Samsung ARM9 CPU
  
• 2GB internal storage, 1GB SD
• WinCE 5.0
• Bluetooth handsfree controls
• Optional MSN Direct access
  
• MP3 / AVI playback
• FM transmitter
• A/V inputs
• 8-hour battery life
• GY440
• 4.3-inch touchscreen
• SiRF Star III GPS chip
• 400MHz Samsung ARM9 CPU
  
• 2GB internal storage, 1GB SD
• WinCE 5.0
• Bluetooth handsfree controls
  
• 1 year of MSN Direct access
  
• MP3 / AVI playback
• FM transmitter
• A/V inputs
  
• 8-hour battery life
• GY540
• 4.3-inch touchscreen
• SiRF Star III GPS chip
• 400MHz Samsung ARM9 CPU
  
• 2GB internal storage, 2GB SD
• WinCE 5.0
• Bluetooth handsfree controls
• Separate Bluetooth handsfree remote control
• 1 year of MSN Direct access
  
• MP3 / AVI playback
• FM transmitter
• A/V inputs
• Voice memos
• Stereo speakers
• 8-hour battery life

[NHAnimator @ Jan 4th 2008 8:23AM]

All these GPS products, and now Goodyear? I'm getting tired of this.

[FrankTheCrank @ Jan 4th 2008 8:36AM]

That's one HIGH RES display on that GPS unit.

There's no way your getting a screen that looks that good.

If so, man, that's one hot looking display!

[Craig @ Jan 4th 2008 9:43AM]

Yeah, I agree. Definitely been 'shopped. I've seen a few in my day, and I can tell by the pixels. In this case, there's way to many of 'em.

[Nick @ Jan 4th 2008 11:28AM]

Good lookin display and a UI that is sleek and simple. It looks like a great product. If that screen image is for real.

[Jase @ Jan 4th 2008 2:36PM]

that's Mio's interface. http://www.navigadget.com/wp-content/postimages/2007/08/mio-c230.jpg

i wouldnt say the image is THAT sharp on my little c230 but it is a great picture. it runs windows CE so its easily modded and now mine can play movies/music and anything else you could want a pc to do.

http://www.mio-tech.com/us/

[QSRV @ Jan 4th 2008 8:36AM]

I recognize the map interface. It's an exact replica of the MIO c310x GPS. Which I really liked until mine was stolen...

[MarkA @ Jan 4th 2008 8:43AM]

Well, you can't beat the name recognition of Good Year...if the unit is not so great, you would be surprised how many will buy it just for brand loyalty....just look at Nascar.

[Jason @ Jan 4th 2008 9:12AM]

Goodyear likes it brand too much to let a crappy product bearing its name go to market. I suspect that if the product sucks and fails, they will pull the product.

The difference between Goodyear and NASCAR is that NASCAR is an over arching organization that puts its name on anything and everything regardless of how crap it is because its good and cheap advertising. They do not really have a product (unless you count 4 right turns on TV a product.... )

Goodyear on the other hand does have products, and when something bears its name, that results in being totally crap, that mentality can spread to the point where people who do not own goodyear products will think they all suck, and thats bad for business.

[psxp @ Jan 4th 2008 8:54AM]

The first picture looks like an iPhone!

[Christian Torkelson @ Jan 4th 2008 9:24AM]

huh. The map on the unit is representing a portion of suburban Minneapolis where I work. I'll assume that perhaps the advertising company that made the photos is based out of the Twin Cities. Not that this is a big deal, just normally I'd expect a map of a more famous place like NYC, Chicago or Los Angeles versus a small chunk of a midsize town's suburbs.

[Dull @ Jan 4th 2008 11:48PM]

Yes, that surprised me too, to see the Twin Cities. I wonder how many people know that wasn't Manhattan or Los Vegas.

[BobTurbo @ Jan 4th 2008 9:39AM]

If it only steers you into a lake once a year, it's a good year.

[Geir E @ Jan 4th 2008 9:55AM]

It looks just as much like an ipod that a regular nokia looks like a regular sony ericsson.

Touch interface usually means just a big screen with some framing. the framing on the iphone is chosen out of what is fashionable right now, and the same is the design clues in this gps.

Different approaches to the same design clues and a totally different interface. So this is as similar to an iphone as a ford sedan is to a toyota sedan.

[DJ @ Jan 4th 2008 10:24AM]

I bet you'll see at least one of the units used as an incentive by Goodyear. Buy a set of 4 tires and get a GPS for FREE!

[Brad @ Jan 4th 2008 10:47AM]

@Christian
I can guess why they chose that location...here's a hint: who's the biggest buyer of GPS systems in the country?

@DJ
If I can get THAT thing for free with 4 tires, I'm in. They should make one that looks like a tire!

[Christian Torkelson @ Jan 5th 2008 5:15AM]

I was thinking Best Buy based out of Richfield... also not to far from the map location. If I'm correct I'd say that map is where Best Buys old headquarters used to be in Eden Prairie.

[Christian Torkelson @ Jan 5th 2008 5:49AM]

Well the Best Buy HQ is on 76th & Newton, and directly across 494 is American Blvd (where I work.) I'm just trying to figure out why it's showing Century, Valley Creek, and Woodbury Drive which is nearly on the other edge of town. If the distance was zoomed out that far and we were seeing a distance of over 10-15 miles then I'd assume the unit would display larger arteries like the freeways which it isn't... even so they don't seem to line up the way the do in real life, perhaps they just shopped the street names in over a map that wasn't depicting the exact area they named the streets?

[Richard @ Jan 4th 2008 11:09AM]

...so where does Apple Legal send the C&D letter to?

[Abartylla @ Jan 4th 2008 11:50AM]

Tyt the screen shot in the device is from my hometown :) tyt Woodbury MN crappy streets getting publicized to bad it doesnt show the ridiculous amount of stop lights

[Jeebus @ Jan 4th 2008 12:57PM]

I'll buy the first GPS that can correctly estimate time of arrival based on traffic lights and stop signs. All of them assume you can speed through all streets at top speed, no stopping, no traffic. I'm often 30+ minutes off on ETA.

[Christian Torkelson @ Jan 5th 2008 5:56AM]

Yeah I know part of the street names are from Woodbury streets... but Valley Creek, Century, nor Woodbury Drive go anywhere near American Blvd, they don't even intersect. I'm convinced the map is photoshopped.

[n0brein @ Jan 4th 2008 12:28PM]

hmm looks like the Mio gui

http://www.biztoolbelt.com/uploads/mio_c710.jpg

[Kr2Ranger @ Jan 4th 2008 5:02PM]

Don't they make tires.....sad when a company whos expertise is rubber, is now dabbling with electronics. I trust them to make good tires - not GPS devices!

[Wwhat @ Jan 5th 2008 12:26PM]

Maybe it's watertight, or bounces.

[Daryl O. @ Jan 5th 2008 10:24PM]

HP already has a GPS unit with a display resolution of 800x480, so it's not implausible that Goodyear's screen would look that good. HP has a terrible user interface, though, so I returned it and bought myself a Garmin. The Garmin has a not-so-pretty GUI, however, but at least it's easy to use. I like the Mios, but I don't like their colour scheme ... I hope the Goodyear doesn't sport the same boring grey background throughout.