PNDs
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Switched On: PNDs try to find their way
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. From pitch pipes to voice recorders, the list of standalone devices that an unadorned smartphone can substitute for runs long. But the portable electronics products that smartphones have had the most impact on have been digital cameras / camcorders, portable media players and portable navigation devices (PNDs, although the Europeans did a better naming job with "sat navs"). The future of PNDs looked rosier in the days when cellphone navigation services required a monthly fee. Google Navigation changed all that and much of the market was relegated to sub-$100, Black Friday-bought glove compartment hermits. But even as they've released smartphone navigation apps, companies such as Garmin and Magellan keep plugging away at the PND, trying to differentiate from the smartphone apps while cooperating with them.
Switched On: iPhone 3GS is fine, young, but not a cannibal
Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. At least since the advent of the first camera phones, people have been wondering whether the cell phone would limit the opportunity for all kinds of other products, particularly portable electronics. Even the more pedestrian features of basic cell phones have been blamed for the declines in (or at least limiting the market for) pagers, Family Radio Service (FRS) radios, and even watches. And beyond portable electronics, cordless phones have also been in a state of decline for years as more consumers cut the cord. But the iPhone 3GS has renewed the old debate for a number of reasons, including data that shows that iPhone users are disproportionately inclined to use their phone's advanced features and changes in the hardware and software that improve the digital camera, add video capture, and open the door to in-vehicle turn-by-turn navigation. TomTom, which has returned to its roots by demonstrating navigation software for the third-party hardware of the original iPhone 3G, can now offer that software through Apple's App Store. So, will the iPhone shutter Canon, run Garmin off the road, or make Flip flop? Thankfully, for the sake of all wishing to avoid reading headlines containing these atrocious puns, not for the foreseeable future, at least in the U.S.
