This info is great, thanks alot. I was literally just about to head out the door and buy a Garmin, but now with this announcement, its completely changed my mind. The only drawback with this announcement is they didn’t announce when, if its for future GPS’s or for what models.
My dilemma: I need a GPS before I plan a trip to Canada in March, I have to now hold off now until they say more. Knowing my luck, ill go out and buy a Tom Tom now and a week later they will announce lifetime updates will be available for any future purchases....I even called Tom Tom support and spoke to an agent who didn’t have a clue about it.
So I guess everyone just sit back and wait and don’t buy any GPS’s from now until they make the final announcement, I mean you’d be clumsy if you ran out now and bought anything...
Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 212 Location: Rhode Island
Sun Jan 10, 2010 7:30 pm
I keep thinking the $100 Ease is NOT going to get free lifetime maps included at that price but that it would be an add on package similar to the Garmin deal.
Why would this be limited to new models then?
And where oh where is the announcement for HD Traffic in the US? Last year they said they were having trouble hooking up with a carrier for this - well its been a year - now what? Just sweep the concept under the rug and not talk about it?
I put "free" in quotes above because like most things, "free" can have different interpretations. Garmin "T" models have "free" lifetime traffic, but of course the price is built into the package price. The TomTom devices that include lifetime maps will undoubtedly cost more than they would otherwise cost without the lifetime map product. Another analogy I've used is that they could say "the 730 comes with "free" text to speech", which of course it is included without an additional cost, but you are essentially paying for it.
I'm not sure what info you are looking for, but new devices that will be bundled with lifetime map updates (which it remains to be seen what the price premium will be) won't be coming out until early Q2.
Had reason to be on the Australian TomTom site this morning.
They now have a 720T that offers "Free traffic updates for life".
Understand that aussies have always gotten screwed when it comes to pricing of TomToms but the price for a 720 with this free traffic is, are you sitting down, the equivalent to $692 US today!!
And this is what is said about the map:
Future Proof
Buy new maps and get free software upgrades through TomTom HOME. So you’ll never be out of date.
An interesting marketing spin......it seems that TT is referring to mapshare changes but even that is inaccurate in that mapshares are only good for 1 year post map purchase.
Understand that aussies have always gotten screwed when it comes to pricing of TomToms but the price for a 720 with this free traffic is, are you sitting down, the equivalent to $692 US today!!
Yes... but the prices have always been out of sync like that. I don't think we can make any judgements about the price of future North America prices based on that.
Quote:
Buy new maps and get free software upgrades through TomTom HOME. So you’ll never be out of date. [/b]
I'm not sure that is what they are referring to. The sentence could mean this.
Buy new maps and get free application upgrades through TomTom HOME. So you’ll never be out of date.
Also consider that the 730 (same hardware, almost the same software as the 720) costs $350 on their site in the USA. Add in the traffic receiver that is included in the AUD price and we're at $470. Add in a couple of years of traffic subscriptions and we're at $590.
Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 212 Location: Rhode Island
Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:55 pm
I was told by TT CS today that a buy in will be available for life time maps for existing devices.
No pricing available but I want new maps and will not get any now until this all comes out. You'd think they would have had a shorter window between the announcement and availability.
There is also the possibility that a new unit will look more attractive with them included.
An interesting marketing spin......it seems that TT is referring to mapshare changes but even that is inaccurate in that mapshares are only good for 1 year post map purchase.
I have read this before, and thought that I would lose my mapshare updates for my Western Europe maps after one year (GO 930), but I still get them. I did purchase the NA map update, could that be why I still get Western Europe maps updates?
Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 870 Location: Boston, MA
Tue Feb 02, 2010 8:39 am
When I first signed up for Mapshare on an old Tomtom ONE in 2007, it gave it to me for one year. After a year HOME said "Your mapshare has expired" and I couldn't get any newer updates. Then about 2 months later, Mapshare working again.
My guess is that Tomtom stopped it's one year policy.
They were probably afraid that people wouldn't buy maps so they made mapshare an expiring feature. But when new features like IQroutes and Lane Guidance came out (which couldn't be corrected in mapshare) they probably figured there was enough value in new maps that people would still buy them. So they probably removed Mapshare expiration.
MapShare is one of those features that when it came out most people (including me) were very excited. Today, with a few small examples of exceptions I could care less about MapShare.
At one point, as mvl knows, there seemed to be a process about to be put into place where mapshare changes reported to TomTom in a certain manner would get promulgated to all maps in a propitious manner.
(being purposely obtuse here, Tim....)
But that door got shut by the control freaks at TomTom's HQ in Holland.
I don't blame TomTom for the lackluster success of MapShare, nor do I blame them for people's misunderstandings of what it is actually supposed to do. The former I blame on Tele Atlas and the latter on retailers. When I make changes in MapShare I see it propagate out to other devices with the same map version pretty quickly... they just never get permanently fixed by Tele Atlas and appear again in the next map version.
Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 212 Location: Rhode Island
Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:06 am
Every time my TT shows me flying over water when I'm on a bridge road over 6 months in use I wonder what happens at TT labs when this data is transferred.
The translation might not be perfectly correct. I think what he actually said is that before the end of the year Tele Atlas would be able to provide a new map every two days instead of every quarter, the industry standard today.
The translation might not be perfectly correct. I think what he actually said is that before the end of the year Tele Atlas would be able to provide a new map every two days instead of every quarter, the industry standard today.
That could make things feel like Groundhog Day! Same problem with losing favorites, etc. now every 2 days instead of 3 months!
Certainly more networking, more recent and more information.
What does that mean?
Our top-end models even have been a mobile module. Additionally, users can receive weather reports. Or, where radar traps are, where you conveniently fills up, or eat well. This information facilitates travel. So far, we offer this service especially frequent drivers. Soon there is the also in the middle class.
What does this mean for you "more recent"?
About 15 percent of all roads within a year of change. So far, we provide all the latest three months maps. Through the integration of our subsidiary, Tele Atlas maps will greatly shorten the interval soon.
What is your goal?
I think that we have until the end of the year for update intervals of 24 to 48 hours. Since we can consider larger sites or prolonged line closures almost daily basis.
[quote="gatorguy"]The translation might not be perfectly correct. I think what he actually said is that before the end of the year Tele Atlas would be [b]able[/b] to provide a new map every two days instead of every quarter, the industry standard today.[/quote]
Joined: 07 Feb 2010 Posts: 7 Location: Lakewood, CO
Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:16 am
Does the free lifetime map upgrade program apply to all XL340S TTS units or just those after a certain manufacture date? Thinking of buying one but am concerned about old dealer stock having it.
The financial earnings were also the occasion for TomTom’s CEO to officially announce that Tele Atlas would be able to produce before year’s end a new map update every 48 hours instead of every quarter.
“[…] we are substantially improving the process of sourcing, producing and validating map data and attributes”, explained TomTom. “This will enable us to shorten the time to market of our content, from the current quarterly batch release to a 48-hour update cycle, before the end of the year.”
Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 870 Location: Boston, MA
Sun Feb 21, 2010 4:22 am
In the financial call, Tomtom's CEO said that they are converting from a batch mapmaking process to a more fluid realtime process.
They'll have the ability to release a Teleatlas map every 48 hours, but he said that end-user nav customers will probably not get them that often, due to release cycles / timing issues with the the nav manufacturers.
I doubt Tomtom will want to release maps that often. Their servers can barely keep up with the quarterly map downloads, I don't think they would want to magnify the bandwidth capacity/costs with 48 hour maps.
I don't think they would want to magnify the bandwidth capacity/costs with 48 hour maps.
Not if they were do do it in the traditional manner. But if they used MapShare type technology to push out the updates in small chunks that override the default map, the sizes could me more manageable.
Joined: 01 May 2009 Posts: 870 Location: Boston, MA
Mon Feb 22, 2010 1:57 am
Tim wrote:
mvl wrote:
I don't think they would want to magnify the bandwidth capacity/costs with 48 hour maps.
Not if they were do do it in the traditional manner. But if they used MapShare type technology to push out the updates in small chunks that override the default map, the sizes could me more manageable.
Hope that's where they go. Tomtom's CEO said they are ramping up R&D expense (probably because they think the recession will be over in 12-18 months) and hopefully new technology like mapshare-style incremental downloads will be coming.
Select TomTom devices across the TomTom XL and TomTom XXL product lines are now available with Lifetime Map Updates, Lifetime Traffic Updates or a combination of these features. Pricing starts at $199.95 MSRP and varies by model.
You wonder how hard it would be for TT's Marketing department to co-ordinate with the web site people to: a) have the new information and b) throw a switch or something on the web site to reflect that information as soon as the announcement is made.
It is here... But I gotta admit-- I'm confused. The way I'm reading the press release is that they are going to start offering a lifetime map update subscription, lifetime traffic subscription, and combinations of the two and that those subscriptions start at $200. They will be available for the XL and XXL devices and the pricing will "vary by model" I interpret as being that the map coverage of those devices vary (like the World Traveler edition) and thus the subscription price will be different based on the installed map.
However most everyone else is interpreting it differently and that the $200 price is for a basic XL with the lifetime map update subscription. My interpretation seems to be in the minority, and I hope I'm wrong.
Agreed. Thay're not pricing this as they should if the goal is to sell volume IMO. Especially with the way they've marketed Mapshare, leading some percentage of new buyers to think they don't need to buy map updates anyway. It looks (perhaps only) to me that they didn't intend this to be competitive, but instead get some press play, at least partially answer Garmin's map/traffic marketing, and generally get some attention for the TomTom line overall. In any case, I don't see a big rush of buyers coming for these. But I've surely been wrong before.
EDIT: Tim, in re-reading it, I'm thinking it's $200 for the most entry level model including the maps/traffic. Still 35% higher than Garmins' lowest priced with the same free maps & traffic, but not quite so out of whack.
After visiting TomTom's website, now I'm not so sure the $200 price does include the device and lifetime maps and traffic. They still show the XL330S without maps/traffic at $199, pretty much their entry level XL. And traffic updated every three minutes? I thought that's the way TomTom marketed their premium Live traffic?? More questions than answers so far today.
It would be much easier if TomTom didn't issue unclear press releases with a lot of fluff and few details.
They haven't updated the website yet as far as I can tell. I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. There is no way they could charge $200 for just the lifetime map update.
There's a couple of things about their current on-line prices that really makes no sense right now. They show the 330S at $200. US/Canada maps, no IQR. But the 340S with added Mexico maps and IQR is $160.
Maybe the site will be updated by tomorrow and things will be clearer.
They haven't updated the website yet as far as I can tell. I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. There is no way they could charge $200 for just the lifetime map update.
I wouldn't think so either, but if you figure just two years of map updates and a traffic cable at current prices, it's not far off that.
but if you figure just two years of map updates and a traffic cable at current prices, it's not far off that.
Yes, but no. The press release said the products start at $199. So the most basic product (if you're reading it the way I started to) would be for lifetime maps. That would imply that lifetime maps plus lifetime traffic would be more than $200.
With Garmin's lifetime maps at $120 retail and $90 street, there is no way TomTom (who some might argue has more price leverage over their map supplier) would charge $199.
Or, look at it this way... if $199 was for the lifetime map update subscription only, then for the basic models it would be cheaper to buy five individual one year subscriptions than the "lifetime" subscription. There is no way TomTom expects people to pre-buy six years of map updates to break even over the one year subscription costs.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
•
•
)