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Article: TomTom's Tele Atlas Purchase: How Will Rivals Respond?
- Article from:
- TWICE
- Article date:
- August 6, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Amy Gilroy
NEW YORK - TomTom's plan to purchase map supplier Tele Atlas is an industry-changing event that could give TomTom some key advantages in the competitive GPS market, competitors and analysts said.
Tele Atlas and Navteq are the only two suppliers of digital street maps to makers of consumer GPS devices, and the purchase would give TomTom, the No. 2 supplier of personal navigation devices (PNDs) in the United States, the ability to buy digital maps at a cost lower than its competitors can.
Low-cost maps are considered important in the intensely competitive PND market because maps can account for up to 20 percent of the wholesale cost ...