Battling jams

Which route is quicker, the second ring road or third? Countless hurried and harried Beijing drivers have pondered the question while stewing in a traffic jam.

Traffic news radio can offer some information, but most drivers can't get the low-down they need in time.

A Taiwan-based firm, Mio Technology Corp, has a faster solution in the form of a global positioning system (GPS) navigator that provides updated traffic message channel (TMC) service for drivers looking for the fastest route with the fewest hassles.

The GPS/TMC service is the first of its kind in the mainland market. Drivers punch in a destination and the GPS will show not only the various routes, but also the different traffic situations. Green means smooth sailing, yellow represents slow and stop-and-go, and red is gridlock - don't even think about going there.

"We started with service in Beijing, and then expanded to Shanghai and Guangzhou," Wang Shengmin, president of Mio Technology Corporation, said at its product launching ceremony in Beijing in January. The firm, founded in 2002, most recently offered the Mio DigiWalker C320 for 3,980 yuan. With it, customers can receive detailed road navigation and traffic information.

In Beijing, Mio works with the Beijing Transportation Commission that monitors the city's daily transportation flows. The commission owns the public information, and shares it for free.

Beijing-based Cennavi Hi-tech Co Ltd processes the information into a special code and sends the signal out, and Mio terminals receive the signals and decodes them into simple graphics and text in both Chinese and English on a 4.3-inch screen.

It can provide the latest and most detailed traffic information within Beijing's fifth ring road, which encompasses most of the city, with updates every five minutes. It is currently 80 percent accurate and will be improved as the technology matures, according to Mio.

In Shanghai, Mio is working with Shanghai Media Group, the largest multi-media conglomerate in the city, in a bid to develop a product that can receive TMC information in the next couple of months.

"In the first half of the year, we aim to conquer Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and expand to other major cities in the second half of the year," Wang tells China Business Weekly.

Mio has proven experience in Japan where its first customers were the toughest - taxi drivers - and where TMC products now have high market recognition.

In addition to China, Mio has operations in Japan, Europe, North America, Australia and South Korea. It employs over 1,200 personnel worldwide and sells its products in over 47 countries and territories.

In Western countries, Mio has enjoyed rapid growth. It sold almost 10 million GPS units last year in the United States, compared with fewer than 3 million in 2006. In Western Europe, the predicted market capacity stands at 23-24 million units for 2008, up by 40 to 50 percent year-on-year.

But it's a different story in China where the current market is only 1 million units a year, Wang says.

Wang says counterfeits don't concern Mio because company updates its technology faster than pirates can produce the fakes.

In addition to car navigation systems, Mio offers handheld navigation systems, personal digital assistant (PDA) navigation systems and GPS-PDA phones.

Since 2006, Mio products have also been honored for their product designs. They include the Mio H610 handheld navigation system, which won the 2006 iF Design Award China and 2007 Business 2.0 Bottom Line award; the P560 PDA navigation system, which won the 2007 iF Design Award China and the A702 GPS PDA Phone, which won the 2007 iF Design Award China.

(China Daily 03/03/2008 page9)