Back in the 1980s, it was claimed that video had killed the radio star. It seems that right now the smartphone is the latest killer tech gadget with a hit list – and its sights are set firmly on the sat-nav.

Pride Before a Fall

It was just over a year and a half ago that Tom Tom, the Dutch sat-nav company, was dismissing the challenge that smartphones may present to stand-alone sat-nav devices. Although Tom Tom was dipping its toes into the app market, it was by and large resting firmly on its laurels. Daniel Woodward, then vice-president of sales for Tom Tom, commented rather blithely that although “there are an awful lot of GPS-enabled phones out there – very few people are physically using them for navigation. Mobile phone navigation is complementary to the market.”

How quickly things change. Earlier this year, Tom Tom reported that the rise of free smartphone sat-nav apps had caused its personal sat-nav business to decline rapidly. Far from complementing Tom Tom’s traditional market, the apps were decimating it – new sales predictions from the company forecast a contraction of about 10-15% this year, with profits currently down by nearly a third year on year.

Sat-navs: What’s Out There?

Whether you are a flustered parent driving a seven seat car primarily for the school run, or a sales rep in your trademark Mondeo, sat-navs have quickly gone from being quirky gadgets to becoming indispensible items. It is the platform that we access sat-navs from that has changed.

Sat-navs are now available in three formats – as a portable device (PND), as an in-dash device and as an app for a GPS-enabled smartphone. With GPS now standard for smartphones, it is perhaps little surprise that this format is rapidly taking over the market. In truth, the only real selling clout of a PND or a fitted device is its screen size – something which the latest generation of smartphones is also giving the kiss of death to.

Sat-nav Deals

In terms of price, the smartphone app wins hands down – even if we discount the numerous free apps available on the market. Google created quite a stir when it launched its free app for Android phones, but many experts have advised that by paying as little as £30 the consumer will receive much better functionality and accuracy of mapping from apps such as the Falk Navigator and the highly praised Co-Pilot Live.

It seems that the days when car deals could be clinched with the addition of a sat-nav device are long gone. The latest trend is for smartphone sales to be sealed with the addition of built-in sat-nav apps. With the high-profile presence of Google’s free app, the pressure is on for paid-for sat-nav apps to up their game and lower their price – which can only be good news for drivers everywhere. Forget “turn on, tune in and drop out”: “load app, jack in and drive out” is the new sat-nav mantra.

And the next device on the smartphone hit list? Could it be digital cameras…?