Last week, at IFA, PND manufacturer Garmin introduced six new nüvi’s. In the US, the first reviews of these devices are already appearing. The US publication, PC Magazine has already tested the new nüvi 755T, and this device seemed to contain an unexpected surprise…Advertisements
The review on the website of the magazine reports that the new Garmin nüvi 755T contains some commercial messages. Here’s a quote from the (short) review on PCMAG.com:"One gripe: The nüvi 755T comes with advertisements. My evaluation unit arrived with three preloaded vendors (BP, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo). When you access the traffic menu, one of these advertiser's names always appears at the bottom of the screen. Also, from time to time, one of these ads will pop up on the map view screen (they won't appear when you are in motion). A single tap of the advertisers' name will perform a POI search for nearby retail locations. Unfortunately, you can't disable these ads, but it's likely that they help Garmin offset the cost of the live traffic information that it offers free."
Traffic
It needs to be noted though that the US nuvi’s are shipped including a lifetime subscription to traffic information. For this, Garmin uses Navteq traffic. As the author of the piece suggests, the revenue from the ads is probably used to cover the expense this new service costs.At Garmin Europe, nobody was available to comment on this, or if there are plans to introduce the same ‘feature’ into the European version of the new nüvi’s…
