TomTom and HTC join forces to battle Google

By on Oct 20, 2010 at 12:43 PM
Services October 20, 2010


On a brisk day in October almost a year ago, Google announced Android 2.0 alongside the Motorola DROID. On that same day, satellite navigation companies like Garmin and TomTom saw their stock prices deflate faster than Yankees fans’ spirits in the sixth inning last night. This was no coincidence. With Android 2.0, Google announced the addition of free satellite-guided turn-by-turn navigation to its popular Google Maps service. Garmin and TomTom both saw mobile as a big part of their futures, and here Google was breaking the space wide open. How can paid services possibly compete?

Netherlands-based navigation giant TomTom found at least one possible answer to that question this morning when it announced a new partnership with HTC. It is becoming increasingly difficult to sell smartphone-based navigation products directly to consumers, so the key is to get manufacturers and carriers to pay for these solutions — and to pay for new solutions that utilize the current Location Based Services (LBS) craze. TomTom, after all, provides much more functional and polished mobile navigation solutions than Google ever will.

The new deal announced this morning places TomTom’s maps in HTC’s new integrated navigation solution, HTC Locations, which HTC calls a “zero-wait navigation experience”. The service will initially be available on the HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z, and only in Europe and Asia. HTC Locations will expand to new devices and regions, though no further release schedule was provided.

The catch? HTC Locations will be free to end users, along with some basic functionality. Turn-by-turn navigation, however, will be a premium paid add-on, making it a much less appealing option than it could have been if HTC ate the expense as a value-add. Unless HTC decides to block Google Maps Navigation from its HTC Locations-equipped devices, we don’t see this new deal going very far at all. Sorry TomTom, looks like you’ll have to reroute your trip yet again.

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29 Comments

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  • nicole

    Sorry to say but i’ve used Tom Tom, Garmin, Delphi and Google Navigation has them all beat hands down….

  • andrew

    Hey HTC, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

  • alter

    uh… if htc blocks google maps… google can block android from htc :P

    • UpToDateGuy

      Nope, they can’t.

      Android is open source – anyone can get the source, and use it on any device. Secondly, HTC actuallys PAYS Google a license for their closed source apps (maps, mail, marketplace, etc.)

      So if HTC decides to block Google Maps, they are blocking something they’ve paid for. Google will just laugh, as they will barely notice the difference – HTC paid for it already (else it can’t have marketplace and such at all). The only thing they’ll miss is more information about the use of their products, to improve their adds.

      • http://cabinics.com David

        Android is open source, but the market isn’t. HTC can sell android phones all day long, but Google and block access to the market. What good is an android phone without the market?

  • superchunk

    No thank you. I just used Google’s Navigation and while it took a minute (probably just a fault in the Fascinate) to connect to a GPS satellite, it worked flawlessly afterword. I’ll stick with me free version.

  • Steve

    Tomtom and Garmin stand no chance agains google maps navigation. Google navigation is much better has it never has to be updated!

    Also if manufacturers ban google nav. Ppl will just start to look for other handset.

  • http://theandroidguru.blogspot.com Eric Schmidt

    Of course you realize, this means war!

  • R8DER

    Garmin and Tomo Tom need to offer free upgrades with the purchase of a unit. How will they earn $ yuo ask? Advertisement like Google! But nope they are stubborn enough to not listen to Google’s way. Make an app put it on the Market, ( free ) and you might stay alive, if not, sorry guys not even making phones can save you ( Garmin )

    • Mr. Bill

      Garmin-Translated=Grabbing more money for updates.

  • Bror Jonsson

    Does the Google’s setup for turn-by-turn navigation download map material for the entire route? I use Navigon and the fact that I have all maps on the phone is extremely important for me. Also, traffic is a godsend.

    • T

      It gets you the entire map at the time it creates the route… if you go off-course tho….. you aren’t getting a new route til you get a signal.

  • dcdivenut

    Couple of thoughts here:
    I have not used Google Maps Navigation (I have a WM phone) but I have used the Bing application I travel a lot in the NE and use rental cars quite a bit.

    1. My # 1 priority is integrating traffic into route planning. Half the time I know where I am going, but want to make sure I don’t stuck behind some ridiculous traffic on my way to a sales call.
    2. When I am not in the city in traffic I am in the hinterlands and don;t always get a cell signal. Preloaded maps are obviously a god send, and I do understand they cache your route, but what if you have to detour or miss a turn?
    3. Tom Tom’s IQ routes are the best estimates of real world travel times I have ever seen. I even stopped pre-planning on Google maps, other than to see relative distances, since the travel times are never accurate.
    4. I guess I talk on the phone enough while driving that I don’t also want to put navigation through there as well. other than battery life going faster than a Jamaican sprinter on ‘roids while the phone is on GPS my Tom Tom screen is big enough that I can throw it on the passenger seat or center console of a rental car and turn on the speaker with Text to Speech and rarely need to look at it, but when I do it is viewable. I know I could get a mount for my car but what about when I am in a rental?

    Sure there are lots of things that annoy me about Tom Tom, but I am not willing to give up a separate device just yet and I suspect I am not alone.

    Free nav on your mobile phone is awesome under certain conditions and I love having it as a back up. but I don’t think it works for everyone.

    • superchunk

      You’re absolutely right and for your type of driving the features of the paid services are needed. But, that is the problem with their way forward.

      They should have a free service that is similar to Google’s and a paid service that offers all the superior data and cached mapping that a business driver/ taxi etc requires.

      For my family trips, I don’t need any of that and Google’s version is superior and free.

  • Eric McCormick

    TomTom used to have their software on Palm and Win5/6 devices but stopped supporting it because of piracy and went to a standalone system that used a custom Linux OS. I wonder when they realized that they shot themselves in the foot by pulling out in the first place.

  • Fisch

    i dont crap a give
    i will use free gps till i die or i will print it out on googlemaps

    paying for gps is dumb just ask at&t =D

  • ja2bk

    Unless they can make it work without a phone’s data plan, it is not very useful vs. free. Give me something that works even when the mobile network is down and we can discuss $ (even then not a fan of subscription based navigation).

  • Vision77

    Fail by TomTom…just about nothing beats free turn by turn navigation…if TomTom adds features Google will add more features. Google will up the ante just so it can keep gathering our precious data and target us with ads…So this is nothing more than a revamp of an old and outdated business model by TomTom…

  • Jake

    Eff the Yankees!

  • Rich

    It’s simple. I would never buy an HTC device that was configured to block Google Nav access. Fail.

  • Lemon

    The REAL question here is can we uninstall it, or is it more bloatware?

  • vinny

    HTC + GOOGLE = WINNER

  • Brian

    “Turn-by-turn navigation, however, will be a premium paid add-on.”

    Thus, it has failed before it even launches. I find it baffling that TomTom thinks people are really going to pay for something that their phone already does for free.

    Fail.

    • therodt

      That is the whole stickler

  • Big Papi

    TomTom’s premium service will include turn by turn? Some companies should just go away and die, TomTom being chief. I mean are you serious? Their main way of combating Google is by charging people for the same service Google offers for free?

    What is the basic functionality that is added? What is the value?

    And HTC, why would they pair up with TomTom, other than having something useful on their Win7 phones. I see no reason HTC would even care for TomTom other than having a comparable device with GPS services. The fact that you have to pay for said GPS navi just makes this extremely head scratching. If they block Google’s direct download at TomTom’s behest, it would be even more suspect. The Android platform has put HTC on the map like its never been on before. HTC was niche before Android came out and I wouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you.

    I’ll be interested in seeing how this plays out.

  • Vic

    If Garmin, with it’s superior routing engine (better than TomTom and Google Nav) would just sell an Android version that included on-board map data it’s all over!

    Sorry TT and Google, but you can’t hang with Garmin! And yes, being a courier, I’ve run them side by side.

    • Eddie4

      You must live in a place where Garmin’s data is good. I used a nuvi 200 for over 2 yrs in my business traveling the Eastern US and it told me to take left turn off bridges and take dirt roads when an Interstate was in viewing distance.

      “TomTom, after all, provides much more functional and polished mobile navigation solutions than Google ever will.”

      If you can back that with hard data, I’d consider it, but that statement is crazy until then…

    • therodt

      Sell, umm why am I going to pay for this? No Garmin is gone. why am I going to pay for nav?

  • EthnocentricAmericans…

    I love when an article like this is posted and ethnocentric Americans go and take it and bash a company. WHERE does it say that HTC will be removing GMaps and Nav from their handsets? Where does it say that this isn’t merely to help the locations where the Nav capability isn’t quite up to par. Go ahead and take an Android Phone and a TomTom in the country where cell gets lost by your phone and THEN tell me that this isn’t needed and wouldn’t be welcomed by those that travel outside of large metropolitan areas.

    Speculation based on nothing more than a press relase. Nothing but ignorance.

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