UPDATE: The metrics Fair Pay Insurance measures have been added to the article.
We’ve looked at TomTom’s new business models in the face of free competitors before, and today it’s announcing another new one. In conjunction with Motaquote, it’s launching a new type of car insurance, which includes a free satnav and uses a gizmo that logs how you drive, and assesses how much you’ll pay off the back of that.
Last month, we wrote about the problem of Android app piracy, and the ready availability of paid-for apps through sites such as The Pirate Bay. Games and pricey navigation apps topped the chart of most stolen Android software, but the maker of one of the leading satnav apps on the platform, CoPilot Live, is doing just fine. In fact, it’s booming.
Navfree, the gratis GPS mapping service for iPhone, has now arrived on Android. The app brings turn-by-turn guidance for Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, India, South Africa and Latin America. We know what you’re thinking: Android already has turn-by-turn sat nav guidance in the form of Google Maps Navigation. Luckily, Navfree has an extra trick up its sleeve. Read more
What does a company do when Google simply announcing a free service causes its share price to plummet by twenty percent? If you’re TomTom, you take a leaf out of Don Draper’s book and try to change the conversation: ignore the looming mobile elephant in the room and try to sell satnavs by making traffic “sexy” instead. Will it work?
BMW realises that some people aren’t very conscientious when it comes to look in their wing mirrors. Luckily, it’s developed a vehicle warning system designed to curb collisions caused by drivers turning without checking properly and, like all the best future tech, it uses lasers…
Whether you’re running the London marathon, or watching from the sofa with a bottomless bowl of Skittles, it’s worth checking out Nike’s new GPS watch. The Nike+ SportWatch GPS was one of the surprise stars of this year’s CES show, and it’s now on sale in the UK. But how does it match up to Garmin’s legendary fitness timepieces? Put down that bowl, and read our expert review to find out…
