Thursday, November 5. 2009

Google and TomTom Execs Address Google Navigation for Android

I dug this up in The Boston Globe writer Hiawatha Bray's overview of the Droid (which he says is cool, but no iPhone killer) and its free navigation app:

During a visit to Cambridge yesterday, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was unapologetic. “Google is a disruptor,’’ Schmidt said. “We would argue that this disruption has a very strong consumer benefit. . . . As long as we’re on the side of making consumers empowered, we’ll be fine.’’

TomTom spokeswoman Kaitlin Ambrogio told me her company will be fine as well. “We believe there are opportunities for all of us,’’ Ambrogio said. Indeed, TomTom might launch a hugely successful Web search company, make billions of dollars, and start giving away their maps. Pretty far-fetched, I admit. But it’s been done.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, TomTom at 09:36 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

AOL's Patch - Now with OSM (not MapQuest) Maps

AOL acquired hyperlocal news site Patch in the spring. This week it swapped out the previous mapping tool, Google Maps, for an OpenStreetMap-based solution. Business Insider suggests this is further evidence that AOL management is not that interested in the older properties like MapQuest.

- Business Insider

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, MapQuest at 09:24 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |