Short news from SatNav land

It seems like half the population are currently abroad, and they are no doubt trying to find their way on foreign roads with the help of their SatNav device, so we’ve noticed that news has been a bit slow. At best, some short news items have popped up. We at yourNAV have bundled these snippets into this small post, so that even in this holiday season you can remain ‘in the know’.

TomTom management

TomTom have recruited former Apple manager Ken McAlpine. From his new London office, he will work on new product developments within the portable navigational systems department.
For McAlpine this is familiar turf: this was the exact responsibility he had at Apple when they were developing the Mac Mini and the iPhone.
TomTom have also announced that Corinne Vigreux, significant other of CEO Harold Goddijn, will now be responsible for the entire department of navigational aids. Vigreux was already a co-founder and large share holder within the company. Last but not least, TomTom have also secured Alex Batchelor as their new marketing manager. He succeeds Alexander Ribbink who left the company earlier this year.

Garmin nüvi 550

Garmin has introduced a new model in the nüvi range: the waterproof nüvi 550. This SatNav model will be Garmin’s first that is all-purpose: this unit is meant for hiking, cycling, driving and sailing. The nüvi 550 features the complete City Navigator Europe road map based on Navteq data and shows all this on its 3.5 inch touchscreen. The device measures 10.7 x 8.5 x 2.4 centimetres and weighs 215 grams. It’s expected in the shops in the third quarter of 2008.

TomTom goes Turkey

This summer, TomTom will enter the Turkish market, supplying all of their most common products to the Turkish shops. TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn claims this expansion fits perfectly with TomTom’s prepared growth strategy. He says: “Turkey, where millions of cars are driven every day, offers great potential. We are confident we can reach the same leading position in this country as we have in the rest of the world”. TomTom will open an office in Istanbul and they are also exploring new expansion opportunities in mid and South America and South East Asia. Up to now, the company have only operated on a small scale in Brazil, Taiwan and China.

Tele Atlas expands

Map supplier Tele Atlas has expanded its map coverage for the area around the Mediterranean and now offers almost 100% coverage of Greece, Malta, Italy, Spain and Portugal. They have also been enlarging the road data for more eastern areas such as Bulgaria and Turkey . “We live in a world where drivers are no longer bound by country borders drawn on a paper map. The consumer now expects a trouble-free route description, wherever they go – be this in their own country or into unknown territory”, claims Yves Muyssen of Tele Atlas.

The updated digital map content for Greece, Malta, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Turkey has been incorporated into the July 2008 release and will become available later on this year through Tele Atlas’ partners.