Mobile warriors can't afford to get lost on the way to a business meeting, and it's no fun circling around looking for the hotel you booked for the night. A Global Positioning System (GPS) makes sense for entrepreneurs on the road or their on-the-go sales forces. The technology has been around for awhile, but now it's more popular, user-friendly and affordable (basic GPS devices can cost less than $100). ABI Research, a technology market research firm, sees the market for GPS hitting $22 billion by 2008.
One full-featured system is Belkin's $299 (all prices street) Bluetooth GPS navigation system. It works with your laptop or Pocket PC to provide navigation with visual and voice prompts. All-in-one devices that don't require external hardware are also available. Garmin is a major manufacturer of GPS devices for all uses. Its $550 iQue 3600 integrates GPS with a Palm OS handheld, a convenient two-for-one bundle for mobile entrepreneurs.
A growing business use for GPS is keeping track of company cars. You can make sure they're going where they're supposed to and aren't taking any side trips. A GPS system with all the bells and whistles isn't cheap, but businesspeople who are always on the go and covering new ground can justify the expense.
This story appears in the May 2004 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
