Huawei Signs Maps Deal With TomTom (scmp.com) 31
Dutch navigation and digital mapping company TomTom said on Friday it had closed a deal with China's Huawei Technologies for the use of its maps and services in smartphone apps. From a report: The deal with TomTom means that the Chinese telecoms and technology giant can now use the Dutch company's maps, traffic information and navigation software to develop apps for its smartphones, according to a Reuters report. A TomTom spokesman said the deal had been closed some time ago but had not been made public by the company and he declined to provide further details, according to the Reuters report. China's largest smartphone vendor has been forced to develop its own operating systems (OS) for both smartphones and computers after being added to a US blacklist in May on national security grounds, barring it from buying US-origin technology and blocking access to widely used apps such as Google Maps in Huawei's new devices.
Dangerous deal (Score:1)
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That's not how civilian GPS works, but if they want lower quality locations it won't be a big deal since their maps aren't very accurate anyways.
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If you're talking about Selective Availability, that's been turned off for twenty years now (middle of 2000, as I recall)....
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It's pointless to turn on again now when you've got GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (EU) and Beidou (China) flying. Even just using GPS with a high-precision satellite-based augmentation system like QZSS (Japan) can effectively mitigate selective availability.
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If you're talking about Selective Availability
No. That is not the most obvious implication of my comment.
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pfffft, they can't selectively distort service to one brand of civilian devices that are just receivers
What do you mean, "controls"? (Score:2)
It's a bunch of radio transmitters that send a time signal. If you got a receiver, you have access to it.
Sure, there is a probably encrypted more precise signal for the military. You car won't need that though.
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And give China a good reason to expand their own Beidou network? Yeah, I'm sure they'll get right at it to remove their own dominating position.
TomTom (Score:1)
Advantages (Score:2)
There are still a couple of advantages:
- a lot of people will thing exactly like you, and think of dedicated satnav as having no value. Thus less risk of getting your window smashed if you left it visible in the car (as opposed to leaving a latest generation iPhone).
- every single dedicated satnav works offline with maps saved on flash. thus they can work without a cell connection. which is very useful when travelling abroad where you might not have a data roaming plan - you know the exact same "abroad trav
Generations (Score:2)
It's funny that you say that... .
to somebody who is born at the approximate boundary between Gen X and *Millennial*
You know, not all of us <40 y.o are absolute twitter addict with strong tendency of triggering that are obsessed with self-contemplation over our "identities". (#ThisAreMyPronouns #NavelGazing)
Some of us just prefer to do shit instead. Go out, do outdoor activities, travel.
Which are stuff which require proper equipment.
Thus interest, among other, into GPS tech, and the long rant about their
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This gives you live updates about traffic problems and suggests alternative routes to your destination.
At the same time this gives TomTom the info they need about speed on the road you are traveling on which is used to feed the live updates.
My Nissan has all the options available including navigation but the TomTom is so good I use it instead.
Another advantage is that since a few years they ma
Range of models (Score:2)
The modern TomTom satnavs do have either a build in SIM or connect via Bluetooth via your smartphone to the net.
Only the higher range models do.
In fact the entry-level, despite having bluetooth ability, for some reason (mostly product differentiation and market segmentation) DO NOT use it efficiently for data exchange (traffic info, or even setting up route) but only for trivial stuff (use the satnav as an audio out for media playing).
My Nissan has all the options available including navigation but the TomTom is so good I use it instead.
Another difference between dedicated satnav and embed functionnality is the updateability.
With tomtom, only the cheapest entry-level devices need paid updates and they're quite cheap (~
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EU vs Europe: significant difference (Score:2)
There is no roaming in Europe for a while now. So what countries are you talking about?
The *EU* has tried to remove roaming (with more or less success as the other AC has brough up).
There are still a couple of countries which are physically in Europe (as a continent) but not administrativey members of the EU.
I live in Switzerland, we're not EU member, but right in the middle of Europe, surrounded by other country that are all within a metaphorical stone's throw away and who will happily price gouge the shit out of us through roaming fee.
(That used to be a major problem is cities which are clo
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1. Why not have a data roaming plan in Europe where the EU limits the cost?
2. Goog
EU vs Europe (Score:2)
1. Why not have a data roaming plan in Europe where the EU limits the cost?
Because I happen to live in Switzerland which is NOT an EU member, and thus roaming isn't limited, and neighboring countries' cell provider will happily price-gouge the shit out of us. And vice-versa for foreigner coming into Switzerland.
Even the special data plans are quite expensive.
Some people opt to use dual-SIM phone for that specific reason: have one local swiss SIM (to get cheaper service in CH), and one SIM from one of the EU members (to have no romaing in the entire EU).
2. Google maps allows you to download maps for offline use.
Have you seen the maximal si
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You probably just didn't realize that a fair part of the built in car navigation systems you've seen were TomTom. As for separate devices, those have lost a lot of popularity to built in navigation and phones, sure.
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Does anyone use these devices anymore? The last time I saw one of these was like 10 years ago.
I have an old TomTom in my glovebox, which I stopped using as soon as I got a smartphone. The software's user interface was awful, the touchscreen worse.
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Still better than asking Siri. If I'm driving I'm not going to stop to fool with my phone (and my wife won't touch it), and we learned a long time ago that Siri gets lost going around the block so we don't use hers. She can plug in and program the Tom Tom just fine. She just found out that she can use Google Maps on her iToy though, so we might not be using it much longer.
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Yes. These things are stand-alone and don't rat my location out to third parties. I pick up the occasional Garmin Nuvi at a garage sale for about $10. Garmin ca be loaded with OpenStreetMap content to stay current. TomTom maps are nice but their satellite receiver h/w is absolute shit.
Why not OpenStreetMap (too)? (Score:4, Insightful)
It would benefit both.
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Mobile tomtom has bigger monetization potential and it is moving to milking their users more.
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If they would be only interested in maps, i'm 100% sure they would have selected OSM.
Partnering with TomTom makes it clear this is not only about maps.
What about TomTom's US offices? (Score:1)
POTUS must be nursing a lump in the throat... (Score:4, Interesting)
barring it from buying US-origin technology and blocking access to widely used apps such as Google Maps in Huawei's new devices.
You see, he thought that alternatives wouldn't come this fast!
Boy was he wrong.
America and its goods/services are slowly but surely becoming less relevant on the world stage; which is nothing but good!