Navicore Expands In Europe Appointing New Distributors And Opening Further
February 10, 2006 — Navicore, the mobile navigation solutions provider, today announces that it has signed agreements with specialist mobile phone accessory distributors, More Group and Demestre S.A, to broaden its European presence as well as opening sales offices in Germany (Dusseldorf), France (Paris) and in the United Kingdom (Milton Keynes).
Navicore has rapidly become one of the top 3 suppliers worldwide of smartphone-based navigation systems by offering a complete GPS package, Navicore Personal, which enables consumers to turn their Symbian-based mobile phones into a fully-featured GPS navigation system.
Supporting all Symbian OS platforms, Navicore Personal is unique in the market as it excels in all areas required in a stellar navigation solution. Feature-rich including full post code support, it calculates routes extremely quickly, uses the latest and most sensitive GPS receiver (SiRF III), has extensive Tele Atlas map coverage and offers free interactive services (1). These include real-time routing around traffic hotspots, traffic safety camera downloads, location messaging and beacon functionality – this allows numerous Navicore users to see where they are on a map and set up alerts if they move.
Opening sales offices in local markets will enable Navicore to serve existing and new customers and business partners even better and help Navicore build its brand and create strong long term relationships in key European markets.
Panu Vuorela, Navicore’s chief executive officer, said, “We are pleased to be able to offer more local support and single point of contact for customers and partners in Germany, France and the United Kingdom by opening sales offices. These are early but essential steps in Navicore’s expansion plan with similar activities in other markets planned later this year.”
In order to strengthen distribution in Europe, Navicore has also appointed two new distributors – More Group in Germany and Demestre S.A in Portugal.
More Group is a specialist distributor of mobile phone accessories including car kits, cases, headsets, batteries and chargers. With eight offices throughout Europe, the company has a strong presence in Germany where it is ranked in the top 5 leading suppliers. With a turnover of some €40 million, More Group is ISO 9001:2000 quality accredited and has invested significantly in IT to ensure swift fulfillment to the channel.
Barry Colman, Group International Director of the More Group, says, “We are excited about the Navicore opportunity. The European smartphone market is booming and we are well placed to provide extensive distribution access in a variety of European countries, starting today in Germany.”
Based in Sintra, Demestre S.A is a specialist Portuguese distributor of car accessories, including Alpine and Boston Acoustics in-car hi-fi, along with alarms, and home audio systems.
Antonio Baltazar, Demestre’s sales and marketing director, says, “Navicore gives us a real opportunity to expand into the GPS market to become a leading Portuguese solution provider, capitalising on what we expect to become a very pervasive add-on application. Mobile-phone-based GPS is in an exciting growth area and we’re delighted to be chosen as Navicore’s local partner.”
Juha Murtopuro, VP sales & marketing, Navicore, says, “Navicore products are sold in 16 countries throughout Europe giving us strong distribution and wide visibility on the high street. These two distribution agreements will further strengthen Navicore’s retail presence and we are delighted to have signed More and Demestre as partners.”
