Mio Cuts Its Workforce By 60%

By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 4/20/2009

Santa Clara, Calif. — GPS maker Mio acknowledged it recently laid off 60 percent of its workforce after its parent, MiTAC, purchased GPS maker Magellan.

“We’ve gone through some changes and strategy changes with the acquisition of Magellan, and the economic situation has forced us to re-evaluate our situation,” said Mio sales and marketing VP Jerry Barbera.

MiTAC, based in Taiwan, purchased Magellan in December.

Barbera said Mio hopes to retain its No. 4 or 5 spot in the U.S. personal navigation device (PND) market but didn’t deny that Magellan might be the dominant brand in PNDs for MiTAC. He noted, “Because of their broad distribution, Magellan has the strength of the Magellan name. They are going to drive the business for MiTAC.”

The company would not disclose its current number of employees in the U.S. but said “all departments are staffed.”

Mio affirmed it is looking at offering other GPS-centric products such as netbooks, and the company did not rule out offering a GPS smartphone in the U.S.

“It’s too early to discuss anything but there are a variety of products that incorporate GPS as part of the platform and MiTAC has a lot of strength in manufacturing … we’re looking at anything GPS related,” Barbera said.

Kiyoshi Hamai, Mio sales and marketing director, recently left the company to become sales director at Rand McNally. Also Rich Black, marketing senior director at Mio for the past seven months, left the company and launched a marketing firm called M20 Marketing.

Magellan Offers New PNDs

By Amy Gilroy

Magellan launched its first line since the company was purchased by MiTAC, the parent of Mio, with five models starting at a suggested retail price of $139.

The series includes the 3.5-inch leader model RoadMate 1210 without text-to-speech pronunciation and caps with a 4.7-inch model 1470.

The 3.5-inch step-up model 1220 adds text to speech and will be sold at Best Buy and other retailers. It offers maps of the lower 48 states plus Hawaii and Puerto Rico, as does the leader model. Magellan said the 1220 will be sold at Best Buy as well as other retailers.

All of the new Magellan models include a OneTouch feature that lets users store their preferred banks, coffee shops, restaurants, etc., and then users can press a single button to access the closest location with one click.

Also new is a RoadMate 1340 that adds a searchable AAA TourBook database and expanded map coverage of the full U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico at a $179 suggested retail.

Magellan is also including lane assistance in its top two models, the RoadMate 1470 with a 4.7-inch screen at $299 and the RoadMate 1440 with 4.3-inch screen at $249.