HP backing out of GPS business?
updated 12:15 pm EDT, Tue March 10, 2009
HP Exiting GPS Business
HP may be exiting the business of dedicated GPS devices if evidence collected by GPS Review bears out. An unnamed contact from HP has said that the company is dropping all its iPAQ devices where navigation has been a central feature, such as the iPAQ 310 Travel Companion. The statement is reportedly backed up by a support document that claims HP is shutting down its iPAQ website, where users go to register and update their navigation hardware; as of press time, the site remains active and points to the shutdown notice as premature.
While HP hasn't commented on the claims, the same source also said that HP still plans to keep the iPAQ line alive for its smartphones and that many of these devices have built-in GPS features.
The company has never been a major competitor in pure GPS and is regularly outsold by larger firms like Garmin and TomTom. Many of its higher-end mapping devices have been pitched as multi-role devices running Windows Mobile and so haven't had the same presence as more committed rivals.
