Microsoft to shut down MSN Direct traffic service for GPS

Microsoft is killing its MSN Direct subscription service that provided real-time traffic information, plus weather, stock quotes and local gas prices to car GPS navigators. But not for a while -- the company said the service would shut off Jan. 1, 2012.

Consumers who purchased subscriptions to go beyond that date (several posters to online forums said they had made one-time payments to get the service until 2014) will be given pro-rated refunds, according to the MSN Direct site. 

However, it's not clear whether people who bought special equipment to get the service that's delivered over a digital FM network will be compensated. For example, one of the leading GPS companies, Garmin, sells a receiver for MSN Direct that costs $119.99, including a one-year subscription to the service. Garmin executives could not be reached Tuesday evening.

According to a statement on the MSN Direct site, there has been "reduced demand" for the service -- which started in 2004 -- because of the increased popularity of information products delivered by cellular and other digital networks.

Also, although not mentioned in the statement, live traffic information is now included for free on several GPS car models, including some sold by Garmin.

-- David Colker

Comments

[xavier itzmann]

Garmin, Pioneer, Alpine... all of them have legacy and new-to-market products based on this technology... all of them burned by Microsoft.

Just like those companies that relied on Microsoft for PlaysForSure and HD-DVD. Is there a lesson to be learned here?

[Offbeatmammal]

I guess as MS move to the Bing Mobile app to deliver information on the go this is less relevant.

Interesting to see the alternatives flourish though .... Dash Expresss (www.dash.net) had a good start but seem to be stumbling leaving room for the new Android 2.0 Maps app (for those with a new Droid phone) or something like Waze (www.waze.com) that provides growd sourced mapping, navigation, traffic/hazard alerts for free (on iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile)

Garmin etc always did a really poor job of advertisnig the MSN Direct features, and it was a complicated purchase/subscription setup ... while I loved the idea (for in-car nav and my SPOT watch) it was sadly too little and quickly supplanted by the Internet and ubiquity via cellphone of more flexible data formats

[alan dale]

Microsoft yet again reminds us how they cannot be trusted to deliver.

[Don't forget, this action will also render all those quite expensive MSN wrist watches into paper weights as well. Exactly how many folks do you think would have bought them knowing they'd be stone cold dead in 1012?]

[Twirrim]

Xavier, It's not even just an MS issue. This is something that repeatedly happens when any company relies on a service provided by a third party, be it due to the third party losing interest or not seeing value in the service, or even going bankrupt.

Lesson to be learned: Purchase direct from vendors wherever possible, don't rely on third party "reseller" services, regardless of the name behind it.