Philips declares civil war on TomTom

As if the kids over at TomTom weren't already smartin' a bit from that Garmin lawsuit, now cross-town rivals in The Dam, Philips, are getting back in the navigation game. Hey, why not? You can't swing a cat in Europe without dustin' some type of Philips consumer electronics device -- so why not personal navigation? Philips will introduce a line of three new products from September and October starting at about €400 ($500). Targetting Germany, France, and the Benelux countries initially, the devices will feature Navteq map data (a former Philips subsidiary), weigh 160-grams, and measure-in at only 20-millimeters thin. And with the European and US markets expected to double this year alone, this sandbox is big enough to play. See? Now pass 'round those left-handed cigarettes and make nice.

[Via Mobile Analyst Watch]

[Intrepid @ Jun 21st 2006 9:26AM]

Now Philips is a company I admire - they are innovative, choose partners wisely and have a good history.
Now if only they would sell more products in Australia.

[GhostDoggy @ Jun 21st 2006 9:55AM]

Why would you admire a company that creates a technology that PROHIBITS you from skipping commercials or changing channels during commercials in real-time, claims they would never release it into the wild, and a month later license it to people for use? Sorry for the crude language, but Philips can go to 'h' 'e' 'double hockey sticks'.

BTW, I think personal navigation can do much better once they start breaking the sub-US$200 barrier on a regular basis. While products like this interest me, they certain are not worth it to me at $400 and above. Shoot, that's an HD-DVD player! lol

[gorkon @ Jun 21st 2006 12:55PM]

Garmin is better anyway and has been around ALOT longer then Tom Tom. IN fact, I am betting MANY GPS devices use internal GPS recievers built by Garmin. Garmin's stuff is the best in the GPS game...PERIOD.

[Jason Sanders @ Jun 21st 2006 1:13PM]

When are they going to start integrating XM or Sirius into these GPS units. I'd like one but I dont want yet another device in the car with all the cables.

Seems like the two technologies would go well together.

[Matt @ Jun 21st 2006 1:30PM]

Didnt Sony jump into the GPS market recently as well. I haven't heard much since their unit came out, and I wonder if it will be the same with Philips.

I've used a tomtom 700 and really liked it. I guess I don't understand how Philips affects them more than other competitors. Yeah, Philips is going after Europe first, but there are plenty of other competitors its matching up against as well.

[sdsdv10 @ Jun 21st 2006 2:29PM]

Sorry gorkon, but Garmin is now using Sirf GPS receivers in their latest models. Best to read up before commenting. Still a good unit, just not for the reason you mentioned.

Check out this quote take from Garmin website.
"Receiver: high-sensitivity WAAS-capable GPS receiver by SiRF"

http://www.garmin.com/products/nuvi360/

[karmaghost @ Jun 21st 2006 2:44PM]

"Civil" war? Is TomTom a sister company of Philips or something? If not, wouldn't that just make it "normal" war?

[bollewolle @ Jun 21st 2006 5:31PM]

karmaghost, they are probably referring to the fact that both TomTom and Philips are from The Netherlands.

And GhostDoggy, watch out what you say, because if Philips did not exist, you would have a lot less luxury today because they invented a whole lot more then some wacky drm related stuff (see CD, DVD, lots of lighting related inventions and a whole lot of very usefull medical related devices used in hospitals)

Just my 2 cents (and no, I am not from Holland, just their friendly neighbour from the south)

[vega @ Jun 21st 2006 6:47PM]

Everyone is using SIRF3 chipsets now. TomTom,Garmin and the rest. The difference is the software. They are using the same antennas, the same SIRF chipset, and most cases, even get their map info from the same people. The difference is in the software coding and the processor it is running on. The GUI too. I have an iQue M4 by Garmin. Which is a Win CE 2003 PDA with embedded Garmin GPS software and antenna with SIRF chipset. It's a pile of crap. The GUI looks good. The tracking is so so. I get lots of lag on turns and on initial start-up. But that's not the worst part. It has totally reset itself at least 3 times now and wiping out all my saved info throughout the system. This includes in CE and Garmin. POI's are gone. Contacts are gone. Pictures are gone. Calendar is gone. It just all of a sudden decides it is going to reset itself and wipe the thing clean. It's done this multiple times now. I don't even save info anymore. It's terrible to use in Portland, OR because you have to take so many convoluted roads to get on a bridge within a short distance that the GPS lags too much. You end up missing turns and then it constantly recalculates. It's crap. I am going to TomTom. The GUI is about the same. I am going to try the Nav 5 on my HTC xv6700 and see if it works worth a frack. If it doesn't, I am going back to paper maps. Seems nobody can make anything worth a crap these days. Perpetual BETA. Phillips better get some good software writers if they are getting into the game.

[Perrey Z. @ Jun 22nd 2006 3:52AM]

I LOVE PHILIPS! Philips is and WILL BE THE most powerful electronics comglomerate in the world.

I admire the MANY technologies, innovations AND inventions Philips have brought to the world.

Get them off your shoe just like you did with Cyberhome! and with the Chinese TV industry in China...

6-out-of-10-TV sets sold in the U.S. are Philips. Don't believe that Panasonic lie about been America's Best selling plasma brand bolony.

Now if they only declare war on Apple...