Rishi Chadha
Founder and CEO
GoGoIndia

a. The knowledge among consumers about the benifits of navigation devices is still very low in India. How to increase awareness about use of navigation devices among the potential buyers in the country?

GGI: As the navigation industry is in its very early stages therefore it is very important first to identify the potential buyers. Once the correct potential buyers are recognized and are targeted with right marketing tools, then they will automatically create a viral marketing effect for the industry. In our view, the target audience are early adapters (Tech savvy), young professional car owners, non-resident Indian & teenagers. To reach to these target audience smart online and offline promotion activities need to be deployed. Using pre-existing social network sites (e.g. Facebook, Tech Blogs, etc?), as example of online promotion, to increase awareness through self replicating viral process that would be enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and the mobile. Traditional advertising; television, radio, newspaper, magazines and hoarding will definitely create a buzz in the general public but to cater to the target audience much more needs to done. For example, the target audience might be aware of different navigation product available in the market but before he/she buys it they would generally like to see and hold the product in their hands. For this, product demonstration needs to be give at strategic places such as department stores, airports & malls supported with educated sales executive who would offer the potential customers the chance to experience the product in real time.

b. The customer today desires to make a informed decision while buying anything in the market. In this backdrop what should be the strategy to handle the expectations a customer may have regarding quality of map data and its updates.

GGI: Map data is one of the important components of a navigation device but not the only one. Example of other main components are:

Navigation routing engine; how fast does the device calculates the route?

Navigation Software GUI; how easy is it to use the navigation software?

GPS chipset; how fast the device finds and holds onto satellite signals (cold & hot start)?

Extra features, what extra feature does the device have Bluetooth, hands-free, FM transmitter & etc?

GGI: Having best of all the above components will give a user a truly hassle free seamless navigation experience. The Indian consumer, specially the initial target audience, will and are getting aware of navigation device as product. Therefore, we strongly believe the Indian consumer will just not make a decision solely based on the map data but also taking in account other factors. Obviously, the industry should work as hard as possible to give users map data coverage, map data quality and map data updates at a reasonable price. Ideally, certain map updates should be free specially looking at the every fast changing infrastructure of India.

c. Product customisation is a key aspect in order to ensure success of a product in the market. What are your views on the kind of customisation that will be effected in the product to suit it to Indian conditions.

GGI: One of the product customization for the Indian consumer would be to create an environment where the users can share easily their own personalized points of interest. Imagine meeting a friend in crowded market, if both of your navigation device can sent each others exact location (POI) then how easy would it be to navigate to each other. Clearly, the industry has to work on creating a platform where the consumer should be able to do this wirelessly, in real time and effortlessly.

d. Updating and expanding map content is a crucial element to ensure the sustainability and marketability of a navigation device. How do you see the challenge of rapidly changing infrastructure can be met and how do you plan to use the user generated content to make the map content updated.

GGI: Getting from point A to point B even easier in the future depends on two main area advances in terms of digital maps. Firstly the quality of maps which will have better visualization which should enhance the driving experience. Areas like 3D elevation models and 3D landmarks, have enormous potential. The other is in a technology called 'incremental updating' over the air. Basically this means that only that part of the database that is added, deleted or modified, is sent to you wirelessly direct to your navigation device. This could help greatly in the constant battle to reduce the delay between changes occurring out there on the roads and those changes appearing on your navigation device.