Death of the Sat-nav

Is the smart-phone era signalling the death of the dedicated sat-nav device? Will we start to see companies such as TomTom disappearing shortly?

Does anyone actually buy the stand-alone devices anymore? Surely as smartphone adoption becomes more wide-spread people will just stop buying them right? Well, everyone except iPhone users, #iLost anyone?

But on a more serious note. Does anyone even feel the need to buy those stupid priced sat-nav apps present on the Play Store or App Store? I sure as hell don't. I used Google Maps the other day on my Nexus 7 to read out driving directions for me whilst driving from the office to a meeting. A journey of approximately 25 miles down some pretty hairy roads.

Now usually I'm constantly looking at the tiny sat-nav screen affixed to the windscreen trying to figure out just where it's taking me next as the audio instructions are usually pathetic at best. However, due to lack of a mount the Nexus 7 was sat on the passenger seat next to me and the audio descriptions were so spot on and detailed that I didn't even need to glance at it once.

The experience was a wholly positive one to say the least and certainly Google Maps has to be the first and final nail in the coffin of the traditional sat-nav. If I was an investor in one of the major sat-nav players right now I'd have been rightly shitting my pants for the past year at least.

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