Gawker: valleywag, tomtom

Eurocrats to review Nokia's Navteq deal

Jordan Golson — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EDT

The EU will review Nokia's $8.1 billion buyout of digital mapmaker Navteq. The Commission believes the deal could hurt competition. Navteq only has one large rival, Tele Atlas, which is being acquired by GPS maker TomTom. The EU is already examining that transaction. [FT]

What's hot this year? GPS devices and digital picture frames

Jordan Golson — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:00:31 EST

Market research firm NPD Group tells AdAge that Garmin and TomTom will have a very merry Christmas this year. GPS device unit sales are up 488 percent, with revenues rising 214 percent. Translation: GPS units have hit that sweet spot where dropping prices cause sales to explode. Spending on electronics as a whole is down 0.5 percent from last year's numbers. Other hot items include digital picture frames, LCD TVs, and digital SLR cameras. So now you know what to put under the tree if you plan on being a completely predictable trend-follower! (Photo by Jimmy Joe)

GPS device maker TomTom has partnered with...

Jordan Golson — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:28:23 EST

GPS device maker TomTom has partnered with Google so TomTom owners can send business name and address information directly from Google Maps to their sat-nav systems wirelessly. This is similar to the Send To Car feature that Google and BMW rolled out earlier this year. [Bloomberg]

TomTom raises offer for Tele Atlas to $4.22 billion

Jordan Golson — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:24:21 EST

TomTom, the GPS device maker, has raised its offer for digital mapping service Tele Atlas to $4.22 billion. This is a substantial rise over rival Garmin's prior bid of $3.3 billion. That offer topped a prior one by TomTom for $2.5 billion. The market thinks the purchase price will be driven higher as Tele Atlas's stock price is trading higher than even the latest offer. TomTom has purchased a 28.3 percent stake in Tele Atlas already on the public market. Garmin owns a little over 5 percent of the company.

Garmin offers $3.3 billion for Tele Atlas

Jordan Golson — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:02:59 EDT

GPS device maker Garmin has offered $3.3 billion for digital mapping service Tele Atlas. Rival TomTom offered $2.5 billion for Tele Atlas in an earlier bid. Currently, Garmin uses maps from Navteq. After that company was acquired by Nokia, Garmin started looking for other options. With $1 billion in cash, Garmin would finance the acquisition through cash and loans from several banks. What's this all mean? With Navteq off the market, expect something of a bidding war for Tele Atlas between Garmin and TomTom — and maybe Google. Garmin has an advantage here, though — it already purchased 5 percent of Tele Atlas on the open market. Shares in Garmin fell 11 percent after the bid was announced as investors worried that the purchase price could rise significantly. (Photo by AP/Reed Hoffmann)