Earlier quoted context omitted.
YouTube doesn't make a lot of money. Android might if you include the Play store.
A run-rate of $30B/yr is "not a lot of money"?
[deleted]
TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
201–210 of 269 posts
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course they’re not. It just might get more complicated for users but it’d be super easy for them to set up cloaking. uBlock could deal with that, ISP won’t. Either way that will never happen obviously; Why would an ISP “block ads”? They’re literally hosting Google hardware (specifically YouTube’s cache)
In France, Free (one of the major telcos) has done exactly that. They block ads from the router that they give to their subscribers. I guess they may be doing that to save bandwidth... They also have a tendency to offer features that few of their subscribers use, or even know about (some of their routers come with built-in VPN servers and torrent seedboxes). In French: https://www.universfreebox.com/article/19260/Com…
If they do this wholesale, they should probably block this at their BGP routers.
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#203TomTom is such an interesting story in technology and finance. Went from zero to $ 10B+ between '05 - '07 [1]. Everyone you knew had one, used one, loved one. Then the sudden boom in mobile phones and mobile internet and the financial crisis. Total crash of the stock. Pretty much subsistence without any proper profits since '09-'10. Not enough IP to get bought, a few licensing deals here and there. Always falling rev…
The blockbuster/Kodak moment is coming. Even if they try to pivot, it's a very long shot for them to get over it.
Strong short on TOM2
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#204I used to work for TomTom maybe 10 years ago. I was there when Google started offering turn by turn navigation for free. Other issue was live traffic information. As you might imagine all this caused some concern among employees because that was, I think, the main source of revenue for the company. They were already doing some other stuff like fitness wearables but they didn't seem to be leaning into it. Main idea fo…
> go deeper into cooperation with car manufacturers to provide builtin navigation in cars. I feel like this is a dying market as well. Why would I pay $200/year to update the maps in my car's mediocre navigation system when I can just turn on Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and get the same excellent navigation system I enjoy on my smartphone?
It's not dying, it's a dead market. Some haven't quite realized that yet, but they will soon enough. Nobody can complete with Apple Maps or Google Maps, going forward. Not even on quality, let alone the combination of quality and price.
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#205I just saw a car with their logo and a couple roof mounted cameras driving around in my area last week. Apparently doing a streetview kind of thing.
It's not necessarily for a street view style product, they could just be gathering ground truth data for more accurate maps.
(I've always been surprised that Tesla didn't leverage their fleet of cars covered in cameras to build a maps product.)
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
Anecdotally, people just use phone holders. I have never seen anyone use either the built-in GPS or CarPlay/AA.
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-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.
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no experience with tom tom but I was a garmin user, and I got the sense that tom toms were pretty much identical. IMO an integrated tom tom into the car, if it performs as well as the external unit, would be amazingly better than your cell phone. The biggest advantage imo is satellite coverage is much better than quality data network coverage. I'm not even talking about in the boonies. Plenty of times in the m…
I have an older in-car system and my experience is the opposite. First, the car doesn't download map data. I'm stuck with what was on the car when I bought it unless I want to pay an unreasonable amount to update it. Second, it does download traffic data, but it's so slow that it's useless. I took its advice once and it cost me over an hour, because the alternate route had already filled up and had the disadvantage o…
Don't forget the best part -- if you do want to update the maps they want to charge you 300+ dollars every year!
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#208I used to work for TomTom maybe 10 years ago. I was there when Google started offering turn by turn navigation for free. Other issue was live traffic information. As you might imagine all this caused some concern among employees because that was, I think, the main source of revenue for the company. They were already doing some other stuff like fitness wearables but they didn't seem to be leaning into it. Main idea fo…
Interesting that going deeper integrated into cars was their game plan. I've never used our in-car GPS (other than playing with it once). If it was any good it has a ton of advantages over using Google, including display on the "speedometer" screen. Sadly, it's pants. It comically announces caution stationary traffic on the M25, generally after we've been stationary for 5 minutes. The navigation directions aren't as…
> I've never used our in-car GPS (other than playing with it once).
You bought it. That's enough for them.
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no experience with tom tom but I was a garmin user, and I got the sense that tom toms were pretty much identical. IMO an integrated tom tom into the car, if it performs as well as the external unit, would be amazingly better than your cell phone. The biggest advantage imo is satellite coverage is much better than quality data network coverage. I'm not even talking about in the boonies. Plenty of times in the m…
I have an older in-car system and my experience is the opposite. First, the car doesn't download map data. I'm stuck with what was on the car when I bought it unless I want to pay an unreasonable amount to update it. Second, it does download traffic data, but it's so slow that it's useless. I took its advice once and it cost me over an hour, because the alternate route had already filled up and had the disadvantage o…
> Third, it can't navigate a path without connecting to the satellite
How else would it work? Just sense which way the wheels are pointing and track the speedometer?
Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a particular problem in Los Gatos on summer weekends when everyone wants to escape the Bay Area and go to the beaches around Santa Cruz. Southbound Highway 17 comes to standstill due to idiot timid drivers who slow down going uphill and constantly brake around curves. Then the navigation apps route drivers onto residential streets to try and save a few minutes. It gets so bad that local residents are literal…
> ... constantly breaking around curves. What a drag.
Yeah, what a bunch of assholes.