It’s too bad SiRF’s stock price has not been reflecting its dominance in the GPS industry (having dove ~78% since January).
It’s a cruel irony: Car navigation devices keep you from getting lost, but their location-sensing acumen won’t help you find them if they get lost or stolen. Why not? Because location and tracking are two different matters. “The GPS calculates location for you. Communicating that location to a tracking center requires a separate service,” says Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of SiRF Technology, the largest supplier of GPS chips to navigation device makers.
Of course, GPS tracking systems have existed for years — they are used every day to keep tabs on valuable cargo, rental cars, and even parolees who are shackled to GPS-enabled ankle bracelets. Cell phones are routinely embedded with GPS chips too, and can communicate their location via cellular networks. (The Helio Ocean phone, for example, has a “Buddy Beacon” feature that lets you map your friends’ precise whereabouts on your handset.) Personal navigation units could easily incorporate the same features, but device makers say there’s little demand. “Most consumers are just looking to get from Point A to Point B,” notes Tom Murray, vice president of TomTom.
