GPS TomTom Go Live 1000 Gets and App Store

 4 May 2010 - By Omar Mariño+
 omar@myddnetwork.com


The TomTom Go Live 1000 is the GPS navigation company’s new flagship model and promises some serious hardware and performance improvements over the industry standards but the real story is about TomTom’s brave new endeavor:  creating an App Store!

The physical device features an ARM 11 5000Mhz processor which keeps productions costs down while maintaining functionality and speed and the software has been revamped to offer perks like 0 second route re-calibration and automatic volume adjust based on ambient sound.  It also boasts a 4.3” inch capacitive touchscreen—in order to keep up with the smartphone mafia—that may not work as well as promised but is a nice upgrade from the physical buttons on previous generations of GPS machines.

TomTom Go Live 1000

TomTom Go Live 1000

However, the real kicker is the Webkit operating system, which “coincidentally” allows easy portability of software developed for other devices.  When pushed a little harder by Pocket-lint, TomTom’s CEO Harold Goddijn spilled the beans and let it slip that the company has its own App Store in the works.

The company hopes that by making their product more versatile that they can compete with smart phone devices (many of which feature free but not necessarily reliable GPS navigation services.)  By possibly integrating live street views, 3-D images, Wikipedia, tourist-type guide apps, and even “old favorites” like Facebook and Twitter TomTom can snag more tech-hungry commuters.

However, do consumers really need a GPS device that duplicates many of the features already available on smartphones?  Considering that 82.5% percent of the US population own cell phones (roughly 250 million) and not smartphones there’s definitely a market for it.  Would you buy a Smart GPS?






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