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TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

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Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#231

Post by scotty79 »

wjnc wrote: post #20
dtech wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pretty much lost because free (subsidized) alternatives like Google Maps became available, pretty much the same story as Netscape. It probably didn't help that their maps were also incredibly expensive, €100-200 for western Europe in 2005 money.

Netscape disbanded as a company in 2003. Why is TomTom still here? I like the questions at the end of a company since a large market I work in (insurance / life insurance) is dwindling as well. What does that do with companies? How do they communicate? What happens when the inevitable shrinking sets in and your brain drain is faster than the way you shrink? Should you ever actively terminate a company and tranfer IP…

> Netscape disbanded as a company in 2003. Why is TomTom still here?

Because they are selling raw map data to Google, Bing and Apple (maybe?).

Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#233

Post by scotty79 »

e_i_pi_2 wrote: post #101

Sad to keep seeing automation get better and the headline not to be "TomTom increases paid time off due to improved automation"

That's not how capitalism works.

Besides TomTom is a Dutch company so the conditions there are already pretty awesome.

Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#234

Post by GiorgioG »

Nullabillity wrote: post #162
grvdrm wrote: post #110

Earlier 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.

I use my CarPlay for NAV all the time.

Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#235

Post by whazor »

scarface74 wrote: post #92
alFReD-NSH wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

TomTom is actually developing their own distribution of Android Auto. Licenced and customized to manufacturers. The design concept looked very slick.

Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#236

Post by speed_spread »

enkid wrote: post #155
cjblomqvist wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an alternative to "wasting" money to give a second gold vein. You can just do the cash cow thing and then die. That's a totally reasonable. If TomTom don't think they can use the money better than other investment alternatives (that their investors have), then they shouldn't. Of course, politics and personal interests. But sometimes it's just better to allocate resources to something where they're better uti…

Has a CEO ever been hired to do this? I just don't see a business ever saying don't invest in us because there are better alternatives.

That Nokia guy when they "sold" to Microsoft. He was the captain put in place to run the ship aground.

Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#237

Post by alaricus »

ratww wrote: post #198
alaricus wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have pointers on what Admiral is doing? I just remember they tried to get their domains removed from blocklists via DMCA.

For most customers, it seems they just went and bought about 2 thousand randomly-named domains and serve third-party scripts. However I've seen a couple places where Admiral was not blocked, because it was being served from a subdomain. I wish I had written down where it was to add to the EasyList or something. :(

https://github.com/jkrejcha/AdmiraList/blob/master/AdmiraLis...

Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#238

Post by alaricus »

bradwood wrote: post #202
chiefstorm wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've seen this implemented in hilarious ways: https://www.cnet.com/culture/how-pakistan-knocked-youtube-of...

Re: TomTom to cut 10% of jobs due to improved automation

#240

Post by scarface74 »

whazor wrote: post #235
scarface74 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

TomTom is actually developing their own distribution of Android Auto. Licenced and customized to manufacturers. The design concept looked very slick.

What is a “distribution” of Android Auto? Isn’t it just a remote interface for your phone?
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