Mio "Moovs" backwards in the U.S.

UPDATE: Read our Mio Moov 200 review and our Mio Moov 310 review

Last month we broke the news about the Mio Moov series. Details are starting to leak out at CeBIT, and GPS Business News is reporting that we will see the Mio Moov 200, 210, 300 and 310 in the U.S. in the next six weeks.

As we've reported, these units will sport a new interface, that should be a real improvement over the iGo interface. Unfortunately, it appears that we're only getting the most basic models in the U.S. -- no connected services or even Bluetooth!

Mio seems to be "mooving" backwards in the U.S. They've always treated us in a second class manner, introducing products elsewhere first and often not even releasing them in the U.S. Consider this quote:

Kiyoshi Hamai, director of sales and product management at Mio in the United States said to GPS Business News today: “what we have seen so far from our U.S. customers is that they have more basic needs than in Europe. The need for more advanced features will come overtime, but today the bulk of our sales is really in the entry level. The U.S. market is still two to three years behind Europe in terms of market maturity.”

This stands in stark contrast to Mio's stated desire to lead the global GPS market. Their stance in the U.S. seems to indicate that they've ceded the high-end of the market to the big boys.

Comments

[Craig]

Um, does the PR image show a route that takes the driver into the harbor? I've heard about this type of thing with European GPS systems!

[Rich Owings]

Hehe...I just posted the image and didn't even notice.