 TomTom to launch
new device
By Theo Boshoff
All road users had better watch out, as Dutch navigation company TomTom has showed off its latest device, the TomTom Go Live 1000, to be released in June.
Not only has the company gone for a brand-new, sleek and rather sexy matt black look, it has also changed the backend architecture the navigation system and all its features are based on. The TomTom Go Live 1000 is the first device running on the new architecture, but TomTom CEO Herold Goddijn says it won’t be the last.
“This is only the first device that is changing how we are going to provide personal navigation to consumers, with the added bonus of providing real-time information through our partnership with Vodafone,” Goddijn says.
 Furthermore, the company is also changing its business model together with this device and architecture launch. The online, real-time services, says Corrine Vigreux, MD for TomTom’s consumer business, will be free for the first year. “It remains a subscription service, so there will be a cost from the second year onwards, but at a reduced cost of about €5 (R50) a month instead of the current cost of about €10 (R100),” Vigreux says.
The new device and the real-time connectivity will be available in South Africa in the June timeframe. Some of the real-time service, such as the HD Traffic service, which shows real photographs of what the roads look like at that moment, the mobile speed cameras and local search services will, however, not be available immediately, says Joost Jetten, regional manager for South and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Jetten does, however, stress that it is only a matter of time before these services will be integrated for the South African public to reap the full benefit of the online, always-on connection, which will be supplied by Vodacom in South Africa.
The TomTom Go Live 1000 also features a new capacitive touchscreen that is very responsive and accurate, and the matt black finish is great for keeping fingerprints off of something that gets handled a lot. The device also ships with a new innovation in terms of its car mount. The new car mount is magnetic and connects with the Go Live 1000 through hidden magnets. The grip is sturdy, yet it is also easy to take the device from the mount and take with you.
|
