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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

#41

Post by hef19898 »

belter wrote: post #14
wjnc wrote: post #6

TomTom 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…

As the owner of several TomTom devices, who tried a smartphone and google maps as an alternative, my experience is that the maps are of higher quality and the navigation recommendations better. Multiple times, when in a Taxi in a foreign country, that used the usual solution of smartphone and Google maps, managed to get on time and find a tricky destination by popping up my trusted TomTom.

The free TomTom android app is great! Cannot recommend enough.

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

#42

Post by DonHopkins »

ghshephard wrote: post #35
wjnc wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Small Nit - Netscape was broken up into pieces and sold to Sun Microsystems and AOL in 1999 for $10B. Thank Mike Homer for the great timing and resolve to get out while the getting was still good.

Selling Netscape's server group to AOL was just sadistic punishment.

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

#43

Post by PascLeRasc »

wjnc wrote: post #6

TomTom 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…

What's a typical ratio of total salary to market cap? I don't have a reference of if 2x is good or not.

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

#44

Post by cwilkes »

myst1 wrote: post #5
noasaservice wrote: post #2

Damn. And instead of reinvesting and furthering R&D, product lines, and more - they're just chopping 10% (or 450 people). That's a hell of a lot of institutional knowledge just gone. It also goes to show that when I automate, I should keep it hidden. That's because I do not receive the gains of automation. Instead, I receive more work or get laid off.

Most company's right now want to automate all skilled labor away as quickly as possible. CEOs don't want innovation, they want a saleable product with the highest profit margin and the least risk. Removing people was always the goal. I've worked at two jobs were in the first week I was told my goal was to automate myself so I could progress my career... Yup okay then...

Isn’t automation an innovation?

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

#46

Post by davidktr »

Aperocky wrote: post #25
madiator wrote: post #3

> Regrettably, this will have an intended impact on approximately 500 employees in our Maps unit, equivalent to around 10% of our total global headcount. At least they are honest about it. I am currently reading the first chapter of 21 lessons for the 21st century and it fills me up with a bit of dread. People having been losing jobs for a long time, but in the future it will get harder to get new ones due to the amo…

> due to the amount of specialization I see high amount of specialization but only after onboarding and not asked of potential candidates. All we ask are capable software engineers, who we then train to be very specialized in what we do.

And out of the entire work force, what percentage do you consider to be capable software engineers? 5%? 1%?

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

#47

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

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…

> since a large market I work in (insurance / life insurance) is dwindling

Out of curiosity, why is the life insurance market dwindling??

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

#48

Post by hvjackson »

Maybe this is just my consumer perspective but I feel like TomTom really missed on a pivot to other GPS-related products that Garmin has successfully nailed. 10-15 years ago both companies were known mainly for car sat-nav systems but Garmin now has an incredibly diverse product line with well-liked fitness watches, bike computers, exploring/off-grid satellite communicators, marine charts, aviation, etc. Whereas TomTom seems stuck still selling the same handful of automobile satnav products which are surely squeezed to a tiny consume base between smartphone apps and feature-rich car screens.

I know there is map IP as well and maybe that's their only real business opportunity going forward.

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

#49

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

daniel_iversen wrote: post #37
belter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the owner of several TomTom devices, who tried a smartphone and google maps as an alternative, my experience is that the maps are of higher quality and the navigation recommendations better. Multiple times, when in a Taxi in a foreign country, that used the usual solution of smartphone and Google maps, managed to get on time and find a tricky destination by popping up my trusted TomTom.

I really liked how TomTom's voice navigation was a lot more "vocal"/directive than Google, and for me that was a real benefit (maybe its niche, but they were at least differentiated there) but then some years ago (when they changed to a subscription service AFAIR) they changed the software and it was no longer "easier" to navigate with than Google (who had lots of other benefits incl. being free). Wonder if they have…

> they don't just use GPS but also use cell tower triangulation as well as nearby wifi hotspot detection?

Presumably the TomTom phone apps do the same. Yes, they have phone apps not just stand alone devices.

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