Leading GPS company DMC, manufacturers of the established CaddyAid GPS system, has launched the world’s first Golf GPS system which can used on a standard, everyday mobile phone. Now from as little as £9.99 golfers can have a GPS system working the same way as its competitors, but for a fraction of the cost.
The CaddyAid Mobile development was successfully tested at Royal Birkdale earlier this year during practice rounds, but now is fully operable in all of its functionality. For the subscriber, there are three screens to see; screen one is the GPS screen which shows the golfer icons of all the key features such as the green, bunkers, trees, ditches etc, as well as the yardage to the front and the back positions. On screen two they see a full distance guide of the hole, created in the same format as that provided to the players at Birkdale and other Tour events, and finally screen three shows an overview of the green, allowing the golfer to have a bird’s eye view of the green complete with GPS readings.
Already there has been significant interest from retailers at the Munich Golf Show last October, and soon the company expect to enter the US market.
David Morris of DMC says, “We are extremely excited about this new development, as it is bringing GPS to the masses, as virtually everybody has a mobile telephone. No longer will people need to pay a price tag of around £300 for a GPS unit, when they can have a complete unit, on their existing phone from as little as £9.99.
“So confident are we in its success, that we will let people test the software on their phone for free on their home course. In effect we are offering a ‘try before you buy’ scenario – none of our competitors can offer that level of service.”
In the run up to Christmas, DMC are offering exclusively to pro shops and retailers a special promotion, supplying POS and the software for £2.50, with the suggested RRP being £9.99.
For that ridiculously cheap price tag, the golfer gets the software for the GPS readouts and a course of their choice. David Morris says, “With Christmas upon us, and the credit crunch, to have a GPS system for £300 is a big ask, but for less than £10, we feel it will be a great stocking filler for all those mums and partners who go looking for a golf related item, but don’t have a big budget.”
Early next year, for selected pro shops, a fully computerised POS system will be installed, allowing the shop to charge the visitor or corporate event a fee of their choice, but only having to pay DMC £1 commission, 30 days after the end of the month.
All the golfer needs to do is visit the terminal which is showing the advertising feature about CaddyAid Mobile, plug in their phone and the software with the course is downloaded automatically. This clearly means that there is no up front money paid out by the pro shop, the mark up is high, and the club pro has no inventory to store etc.
“We feel golf club pro shops, internet retailers, high street retailers, as well as corporate event organisers will be interested in this product, based on its innovation, its interest to golfers, price and also the fact that so may people have what the software takes – their mobile phone. In fact, that is the strap line, you already have what it takes, your phone. That in itself we feel will be the key differentiator to the competition” says Morris
Back in 2006, DMC were the first to bring a GPS product to the market using a colour photograph of the hole for the golfer. A product so widely covered in many golf magazines, simply by the fact that numerous Tour players and their caddies were using it so often and willingly singing its praises.
Now DMC bring yet another first to the industry, Golf GPS to people’s mobile phones, showing GPS, as well as a full distance guide in addition to a overview of the green.
CaddyAid www.caddyaidmobile.com