TomTom shrugs off free apps threat with new iPhone app

 

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By Stuart Turton in Hannover

Posted on 2 Mar 2010 at 16:08

TomTom has claimed that there will always be a market for its satellite navigation products, shrugging off the challenge of free services from Google and Nokia.

The company made the bold proclamation as it launched a new version of its TomTom for iPhone software. The revamped smartphone app includes real-time traffic updates based on feedback from other TomTom devices out on the roads (dubbed HD Traffic), and Google Local Search.

"Free is a tricky word," said Roy Van Keulen, TomTom's VP of ecommerce, at the CeBIT show in Hannover. "Nothing is ever really free, and I think if the quality of content is there then people will always be willing to pay.

Nothing is ever really free, and I think if the quality of content is there then people will always be willing to pay

"We have the best maps, HD Traffic means people don't have to get stuck in traffic, and maybe they can leave home a little later. There are services like OpenStreetMap, and it's good, but sometimes there's not a bridge when it told you there would be."

Yet, despite the company's dismissal of free applications, it's clearly feeling the pinch. TomTom has dropped the price of its iPhone software from £60 to £50, albeit temporarily. Last week TomTom admitted that sales of dedicated sat-nav devices would fall by 2-3% over 2010, while rival Garmin estimated a steeper drop of 10%.

Despite the predicted fall in sales, Van Keulen dismisses the suggestion that the sat-nav makers have run out of ideas. "I think we're going to see a lot more augmented reality and social usage, the map becoming a base for other services. There are interesting things happening on smartphones."