Dash Navigation today announced that it will no longer sell GPS hardware devices. Instead, the company says it will refocus its business on licensing its software to other companies. I guess I'm shocked but not surprised; Dash's innovative Express GPS navigator had, by far, the best traffic awareness of any GPS I've tested to date. But there's just no denying the fact that Dash's big, fugly hardware wasn't going to sit well with picky consumers accustomed to thin, pretty devices.
What I find funny is that everyone was "freaking out" per se whem they heard the news of this device and now it basically went up in flames. All that hype and now its blah!!
would be awesome if they could push their software onto the iphone. It already has 2-way data.
What I find funny is that everyone was "freaking out" per se when they heard the news of this device and now it basically went up in flames. All that hype and now its blah!!
There are countless examples of true market innovators in various tech markets failing like this -- it's often a lot better to be the second one into a space. Some times you've got the best idea but it's just ahead of its time, and I think that Dash fits that mold perfectly. Maybe in a year or two when everyone's gotten used to 3G (and 3G would make a difference here I think, instead of just GPRS) this will make a lot of sense to average users.
That said, I think everyone was "freaking out" because it's really a COOL idea and it makes absolute sense that nav devices incorporate two-way, always-on connectivity. I too hope Garmin is listening, because the Dash system does seem to be "better" than the MSN and other systems. I'd love to see this in my Nuvi, and frankly Garmin could use something like this if they want to keep competing in hardware and not end up as a software vendor themselves...
Garmin won't ever fail like Dash did. Guarenteed
If Dash links up with Mio or TT and offers their service as paid add on to compatible PNDs, then you will really see freaking out!
First of all, I did not think one moment that the Dash was freaky or ugly.
After all, I only look at the front site which shows me an excellent road condition with many real practical choices, rather than useless functions.
For me it is the begin of a new generation of really practical GPS.
I like the regular updates via wi-fi and the information via cellular connections.The reason I bought it was the GNU software underground, since I am a happy Linux user who a long while ago departed from MS Windows with it's over priced peephole and bloat ware.
I also had a Tomtom, but one that one told me once that I had "Arrived" while I was in the middle of I-35 in Texas, with no exits in sight, so I gave it away.
Currently I also have an Nuvi 660, which is very good, but requires MS Windows Vista or XP to download updates via a special loader program.
Now when I switch on my Dash and there is an new download it does it without any difficulty.
I hope that some GPS producer get smart and start using this software.
I am happy.
You can also perform Garmin software updates on MacOS computers.