Shan Sadiq | August 16, 2009 | 296 views | Comments Categorized under TomTom
TomTom has finally made its way to the App store. The app is now available in Australia and New Zealand.
According to MacRumors, the application has four maps available for purchase. The US and Canada map is priced at $124.99, Western Europe is priced at $121.55 USD, Australia is priced at $70.90 USD, and NZ is priced at $81.03 USD.
The app is currently not visible in the US App store.
Unlike AT&T’s navigation app, TomTom will not charge you a monthly fee to use the application. The app’s maps are downloaded on the iPhone and stored locally.
Shan Sadiq | July 19, 2009 | 304 views | Comments Categorized under iPhone, TomTom
ALL of the iPhone’s current GPS offerings suck. AT&T Navigator is absolutely not worth $10 a month. Gokivo’s real time navigation app suffers from the same issues as AT&T Navigator. It also costs $10 a month and does not come close to competing with a dedicated GPS unit. Both of them do not store maps locally. They download maps as you drive.
Navigon has released a pretty nice GPS app for the European market. Its maps are downloaded to your phone and no monthly plan or data network connection is required. The company says that a US version will come out soon but don’t hold your breath. There is also G-Map by XRoad. G-Map is currently under $40.00 and does not require a monthly plan. It also downloads all maps to your phone when installed. The G-Map app suffers from incomplete map data and bad routing directions.
TomTom on the other hand has not said anything about the release of their GPS iPhone application. They made a lot of noise about the product at WWDC last June. They generated high anticipation. But left everyone hanging. From time to time, a news report or blog post comes out saying the app is on the way. But we hear nothing official from TomTom.
All of the current GPS solutions on the iPhone suck. So TomTom still has a chance to win the category over. That is if they ever release their application.
For those of you The Simpsons fans out there, a Homer Simpson voice skin is now available to be built in to the TomTom Knight Rider GPS. Homer Simpson isn’t best known for his intellect, but at least we know now that he can give good directions. Some of his expressions on the GPS include “Take the third right. We might find an ice cream truck! Mmm… ice cream” and “Woo hoo, you have reached your destination. And you can hold your head up high because you are a genius. At the end of the road turn left, then taking the motorway. Hahaha WooHoo!” The voice skin runs for $12.95.
Amit Chowdhry | June 5, 2009 | 229 views | Comments Categorized under TomTom
What is better than having a TomTom GPS device? Answer: Having a TomTom “White Pearl” edition device that comes with a fancy bag. The “White Pearl” is basically a TomTom ONE IQ Routes device with a solid paint job. The specs are the same.
Availability time in the U.S. is undetermined, but United Kingdom consumers can get their hands on it next month for £179.99 ($300).
Microsoft Corporation and GPS device company TomTom have settled the patent lawsuits that they have filed against each other. Microsoft sued TomTom in late February and TomTom sued them back earlier this month. Both companies were expected to just settle with each other rather than spend too much money on litigation battling each other.
As part of the agreement, TomTom will pay Microsoft for patent protection where related to mapping patents and file management patents. Microsoft claimed that TomTom was infringing on the software giant’s use of the Linux kernel. Microsoft will also receive access to TomTom’s patents that were referred to in the lawsuit against them. Microsoft won’t make any payments to TomTom for using their patents.
This settlement has a five year term and TomTom will remove functionality related to Microsoft’s two file management system patents from their products over the next couple of years. “We are pleased TomTom has chosen to resolve the litigation amicably by entering into a patent agreement,” stated Microsoft’s deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez.
Late last month, I wrote about how Microsoft was taking TomTom to court over an in-car navigation patent violation. Obviously TomTom wasn’t too happy about having to deal with this litigation, but now they have decided to countersue Microsoft over patent violations as well. TomTom claims that Microsoft is infringing on three of their in-car navigation patents.
The three patents that TomTom is claiming that Microsoft is infringing upon are “Generating a Maneuver at the Intersection Through A Turn Lane” (5,902,350), “Route Generation in a Vehicle Navigation System” (5,938,720), and “Quick Selection of Destinations in an Automobile Navigation System” (6,660,994).
Microsoft sued TomTom last month over patents that cover the Microsoft FAT32 filesystem. Since TomTom uses Linux, this is believed to be the first time that Microsoft has targetted a Linux-based system with patent violation litigation. Microsoft could use the File Allocation Table (FAT) patents to do some serious damage to Linux if they chose to.
Analysts believe that the lawsuits will likely cancel each other out and Microsoft and TomTom both won’t be affected. A settlement has to take place first.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has decided to file a lawsuit against TomTom today regarding the violation of in-car navigation services. Microsoft believes that TomTom is violating 8 of their patents. Three of these violations relate to the way that TomTom implemented the Linux kernel. Using Linux isn’t the main point of the lawsuit, but it is more of the violation of using proprietary software. Microsoft said that they filed the lawsuit out of last resort.
The case was filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle and the International Trade Commission. Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s corporate VP and deputy general counsel stated that this is the first time Microsoft has had this kind of lawsuit. Both of the previous lawsuits were settled after they were filed. Microsoft has had about 500 patent licensing deals made in the past 5 years.
“In exceptional cases such as this one, when a pragmatic business agreement cannot be reached, we feel that we really have no choice but to pursue legal action to protect our innovations and our partners who license them,” stated Gutierrez. Microsoft has struck licensing deals with other in-car navigation services. The company “remains open” to resolving the TomTom lawsuit quickly.
