TomTom announced today that it has agreed to acquire Tele Atlas, the second largest mapping data provider behind NAVTEQ, for $2.77 billion. TomTom will pay 21.25 euros per share (20% more than Tele Atlas' closing price on Friday).
With Google rumored to be looking at NAVTEQ with bedroom eyes, this may have just been a pre-emptive strike before Google owns every map in the world...
Continue reading "TomTom Acquires Tele Atlas for $2.7 Billion. Google to Acquire NAVTEQ next?" »
This could get rather interesting. The marriage might actually give Tom Tom a huge competitive advantage with more accurate maps and more efficient routing if they use Tom Tom devices to feed current, real-world data into Tele Atlas's map database.
Seekingalpha.com reports:
"The companies [Tele Atlas and Tom Tom] said they could effectively turn TomTom's installed base of more than 10 million navigation devices into automated map surveyors, which would improve maps and allow new features such as daily map updates and intelligent routing."
(http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/41921)
Tom Tom hardware and software is already capable of doing this according to a Tom Tom FAQ: "After they have given their consent, the device sends anonymous statistical information about average speeds on roads to us. This allows us to improve the navigation experience. If the test is successful, we will be able to give back some of the results to consumers for free, most likely in the form of a free software upgrade."
(http://www.tomtom.com/support/product.php?ID=183&Language=4&FID=6215)
Having tens of millions of units 'phoning home' to report the accuracy of map and speed data is exponentially more efficient, effective, and expedient than the method used by NAVTEQ which, as I understand it, involves a small fleet of GPS enabled vehicles with cameras, gyros, and a bunch of laptops.
Well, Fletch, it appears that the ONE may actually get your Editor's Choice BECAUSE OF the Tele Atlas maps.
JS