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One of the UK's largest electronics retailers is broke
Many years ago, Maplin was the place to go if you needed a VGA to Scart cable, a weird battery or a new charger for your Samsung flip phone before there were industry standards for that kind of thing. It's the UK equivalent of RadioShack, and the only well-known highstreet chain still selling obscure electronics. Next to aisles of every cable and converter you could imagine, you'll often find random delights such as a smoke machines and soldering stations. In more recent years, Maplin started stocking products with a broader appeal, like Nest thermostats, Amazon Fire TV sticks and Google Home speakers. It even launched a smart home consultation service late last year, but the change in tack hasn't rescued the retailer from going broke.
Maplin drops a 99 GPS nav, the AYTOBE
While the GPS navigation market is hella crowded these days, all that competition hasn't exactly led to the sort of plummeting price drops that inspire the random Saturday impulse buy -- you're still looking at around $250 for something like a barebones Garmin i5, which gets you mapping on a tiny screen but not a whole lot else. UK outfit Maplin is hoping to edge that bang / buck ratio a little closer to your heart with its first GPS unit, the pun-erifically named AYTOBE. Features include a 3.5-inch touchscreen, an MP3 player, 64MB of built-in memory with SD expansion, a remote control, and the most important spec of all -- a £99 ($200) price tag. Virtually no deets on availabilty other than UK-only, but let's hope this is just the calm before the storm.[Via Tech Digest]
