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Something that most commenters are missing is that TomTom's most revenue comes from B2B deals, which are mostly deals with automotive companies for car screens

Something that most commenters are missing is that TomTom's most revenue comes from B2B deals, which are mostly deals with automotive companies for car screens experience and also providing maps data for products like Bing Maps.

scarface74 4y ago
And most consumers would much rather have either CarPlay or Android Auto than the crappy software that is made my the manufacturers.
- grvdrm 4y ago
  Is that true? Not saying you are wrong but is it just an anecdote? I anecdotally know lots of people that just use their car GPS and don’t bother with CarPlay/AA
  - scarface74 4y ago
    80% of new cars support CarPlay https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-success-paves-way-for-automotive-entry.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-succes... As far as I know, most cars that support CarPlay also support Android auto. I can’t imagine car manufacturers wanting to pay licensing fees to TomTom unnecessarily.
    - r-w 4y ago
      Which makes you wonder if there must be some good reason why they’re still doing it.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - Nullabillity 4y ago
    Anecdotally, people just use phone holders. I have never seen anyone use either the built-in GPS or CarPlay/AA.
    - Bud 4y ago
      False. People greatly prefer CarPlay if they are iPhone users, and already people are refusing to buy any car that doesn't support it. Phone holders are over. Even as early as 2017, the majority of car buyers already wanted CarPlay in a new vehicle and one-quarter of buyers said it was a "must have". That was five years ago. I'm sure the numbers are much higher now. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-success-paves-way-for-automotive-entry.html#:~:text=It's%20also%20a%20top%20feature,a%202017%20Strategy%20Analytics%20study https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-succes.... Over 80% of new cars sold now support CarPlay. There's a reason for that: customers demanded it and walked out of dealerships if they didn't get it.
      - Nullabillity 4y ago
        Is that a US thing?
        Bud 4y ago
        Could be more of a US thing, sure. I don't have data at hand right now about CarPlay adoption in Europe. From this list, though, it certainly looks like European carmakers have very robust CarPlay support: https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/available-models/ https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/available-models/
        thirdsun 4y ago
        As a data point: I'm european and my next car will have Carplay, no doubt. On the other hand I currently use a phone holder because my car doesn't support Carplay and nobody in their right mind would get a new car just because of this missing feature. That's why the phone holder is such a popular solution. It's a slow process, but I have no doubt that most people will insist on Carplay / Android Auto whenever it's time to get a new car.
    - GiorgioG 4y ago
      I use my CarPlay for NAV all the time.
- hulitu 4y ago
  Android Auto is crap. It only works with Google apps and some third party media players, when it starts. I gave up on it a long time ago.
  - DavidPeiffer 4y ago
    This week I've been trying Android Auto out in a rental car. I'm not impressed so far. Google Maps has worked okay, but Spotify has not. I don't know where the line is between Android Auto and the Jeep Cherokee interface, but the turn by turn directions are super quiet compared to the music with seemingly no way to adjust. Squarely on the Jeep UI side, I've been using the car for 4 days and still haven't figured out how to turn the radio off but keep the screen and turn by turn directions running. While I haven't tried it, Osmand recently added support for Open Street Maps on Android Auto. I'm hopeful the experience is decent, but not willing to pay for it at the moment.
- perlgeek 4y ago
  ... and yet car makers still feel obliged to provide turn-based navigation out of the box.
  - sdenton4 4y ago
    But the car manufacturers have a lot more leverage for negotiating if they don't really need the software.
- prepend 4y ago
  I like BMW’s nav idrive better than the CarPlay integration and use it instead of google/apple/wake. First because it uses the whole screen and heads up display and CarPlay doesn’t. But this is probably something that could be done with better integration. Second because CarPlay takes over the phone and I want nav to keep running while I use the phone for other things. I know that I shouldn’t, but at stop lights I’ll read texts, HN, etc. with an active nav, I have to switch away from it while I use the phone. With the car running the nav, I can use my phone for whatever I like. All I use Apple Maps for is to send directions to my car. It’s kind of nice to just have a dedicated nav in my car.
  - airstrike 4y ago
    You read HN at stop lights? How long are those stops???
  - scarface74 4y ago
    “I don’t want to use CarPlay because if I do, I can’t be a distracted driver and do things that are illegal in many jurisdictions”
- whazor 4y ago
  TomTom is actually developing their own distribution of Android Auto. Licenced and customized to manufacturers. The design concept looked very slick.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    What is a “distribution” of Android Auto? Isn’t it just a remote interface for your phone?

scarface74 4y ago

And most consumers would much rather have either CarPlay or Android Auto than the crappy software that is made my the manufacturers.

grvdrm 4y ago
Is that true? Not saying you are wrong but is it just an anecdote? I anecdotally know lots of people that just use their car GPS and don’t bother with CarPlay/AA
- scarface74 4y ago
  80% of new cars support CarPlay https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-success-paves-way-for-automotive-entry.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-succes... As far as I know, most cars that support CarPlay also support Android auto. I can’t imagine car manufacturers wanting to pay licensing fees to TomTom unnecessarily.
  - r-w 4y ago
    Which makes you wonder if there must be some good reason why they’re still doing it.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Nullabillity 4y ago
  Anecdotally, people just use phone holders. I have never seen anyone use either the built-in GPS or CarPlay/AA.
  - Bud 4y ago
    False. People greatly prefer CarPlay if they are iPhone users, and already people are refusing to buy any car that doesn't support it. Phone holders are over. Even as early as 2017, the majority of car buyers already wanted CarPlay in a new vehicle and one-quarter of buyers said it was a "must have". That was five years ago. I'm sure the numbers are much higher now. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-success-paves-way-for-automotive-entry.html#:~:text=It's%20also%20a%20top%20feature,a%202017%20Strategy%20Analytics%20study https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-succes.... Over 80% of new cars sold now support CarPlay. There's a reason for that: customers demanded it and walked out of dealerships if they didn't get it.
    - Nullabillity 4y ago
      Is that a US thing?
      - Bud 4y ago
        Could be more of a US thing, sure. I don't have data at hand right now about CarPlay adoption in Europe. From this list, though, it certainly looks like European carmakers have very robust CarPlay support: https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/available-models/ https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/available-models/
      - thirdsun 4y ago
        As a data point: I'm european and my next car will have Carplay, no doubt. On the other hand I currently use a phone holder because my car doesn't support Carplay and nobody in their right mind would get a new car just because of this missing feature. That's why the phone holder is such a popular solution. It's a slow process, but I have no doubt that most people will insist on Carplay / Android Auto whenever it's time to get a new car.
  - GiorgioG 4y ago
    I use my CarPlay for NAV all the time.
hulitu 4y ago
Android Auto is crap. It only works with Google apps and some third party media players, when it starts. I gave up on it a long time ago.
- DavidPeiffer 4y ago
  This week I've been trying Android Auto out in a rental car. I'm not impressed so far. Google Maps has worked okay, but Spotify has not. I don't know where the line is between Android Auto and the Jeep Cherokee interface, but the turn by turn directions are super quiet compared to the music with seemingly no way to adjust. Squarely on the Jeep UI side, I've been using the car for 4 days and still haven't figured out how to turn the radio off but keep the screen and turn by turn directions running. While I haven't tried it, Osmand recently added support for Open Street Maps on Android Auto. I'm hopeful the experience is decent, but not willing to pay for it at the moment.
perlgeek 4y ago
... and yet car makers still feel obliged to provide turn-based navigation out of the box.
- sdenton4 4y ago
  But the car manufacturers have a lot more leverage for negotiating if they don't really need the software.
prepend 4y ago
I like BMW’s nav idrive better than the CarPlay integration and use it instead of google/apple/wake. First because it uses the whole screen and heads up display and CarPlay doesn’t. But this is probably something that could be done with better integration. Second because CarPlay takes over the phone and I want nav to keep running while I use the phone for other things. I know that I shouldn’t, but at stop lights I’ll read texts, HN, etc. with an active nav, I have to switch away from it while I use the phone. With the car running the nav, I can use my phone for whatever I like. All I use Apple Maps for is to send directions to my car. It’s kind of nice to just have a dedicated nav in my car.
- airstrike 4y ago
  You read HN at stop lights? How long are those stops???
- scarface74 4y ago
  “I don’t want to use CarPlay because if I do, I can’t be a distracted driver and do things that are illegal in many jurisdictions”
whazor 4y ago
TomTom is actually developing their own distribution of Android Auto. Licenced and customized to manufacturers. The design concept looked very slick.
- scarface74 4y ago
  What is a “distribution” of Android Auto? Isn’t it just a remote interface for your phone?