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One of the major changes touted in the new version of HTC Sense loaded on the HTC Desire HD and Desire Z is HTC Locations, a new mapping and navigation service that allows for map pre-loading. Today the Taiwanese manufacturer announced exactly where it will be getting its map data. A partnership with TomTom will start with the companies maps being featured on the two big Desire releases and then move on to see other handsets in the future.
What isn’t clear is where exactly Google Maps stands. On the Desires HD and Z, viewing TomTom map data through HTC Locations is free, but to use navigation one would need to pay for the feature. We would hope that Google Navigation would still be freely available for those people who don’t want to pay for a location service, while TomTom and HTC Locations remain for those who deem it worthy of the extra cash. Oh, beeteedubs. The Desire HD should be officially available from several online outlets around Europe as of today.
TomTom and HTC unite to deliver best of class location and navigation experience on the phone
Amsterdam and Taoyuan, Taiwan – 20 October 2010 – TomTom, the world’s leading provider of location and navigation solutions, and HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today announced they are combining strengths to deliver superb navigation and location solutions on HTC smartphones.HTC Locations, HTC’s new mapping experience, comes preloaded with TomTom’s location-rich maps, resulting in a zero-wait navigation experience. HTC Locations is initially available on the new HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z smartphones in Europe and Asia and will be extended to a wide variety of future smartphones and geographies.
“I am very pleased to be providing HTC customers with TomTom’s accurate location and navigation content on their phones wherever they are. The beauty of it is that the maps are preloaded and instantly available at users’ fingertips. For the first time, this makes the power of TomTom navigation content available ‘in-pocket’ for HTC smartphone users”, says Maarten van Gool, Managing Director of TomTom Licensing.
“This partnership with TomTom underlines HTC’s commitment to giving our customers an innovative navigation experience that is natural and provides unique enhancements for common navigation needs,” said John Wang, Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation. “HTC and TomTom have worked closely to optimize these amazing capabilities on HTC smartphones through our new HTC Locations application.”
Maps and location content come preloaded on HTC Locations while turn-by-turn navigation can be purchased and downloaded through HTC Locations or HTC Sync.
About TomTom N.V.
TomTom N.V. (AEX: TOM2) is the world’s leading provider of location and navigation solutions. Headquartered in The Netherlands it employs over 3,000 employees worldwide. Over 45 million people daily use its solutions, be it in the form of dedicated portable navigation devices (PNDs), in-dash car systems or tracking and tracing solutions for fleet management. In addition, hundreds of millions of people use TomTom’s digital maps on the internet or mobile phone.
In 2009, TomTom reported €1.5 billion in revenues and a €340 million net cash flow from operating activities. More information about TomTom can be found on www.TomTom.com.
For the world’s most up-to-date route planner, including LIVE traffic information please visit www.routes.TomTom.com.
About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.
I would just prefer Google Maps and Navigation…
Would be cool if TomTom navigation was available for all android phones
say ByeBye to TomTom
Dangerous ground here, HTC could be isolating themselves from Garmin users. Me thinks Motorola, will move with our friends from Olath.
On my Desire HD both Google Maps and Locations coexist.
If you choose navigation from within the’locations’app you can even choose to do this with both Google Navigation or premium navigation. Note that it will be cheaper to buy premium navigation for a trip outside your home country considering the roaming charges. A premium navigation package for the Benelux for 30 days costs 4.99 euro.
Just downloading maps without navigation is free though. So it’s quite handy for trips and vacations. Google Maps is awesome, but roaming charges ruin the experience abroad.
This is great news. I love Google nav and maps, but data roaming outside country borders is just terribly expensive in Europe. when you’re in Holland it takes only two hours to before you will need offline maps. my tomtom device is ok, but it is yet another device. glad they finally started work on some Android app.
HTC is so smart about offering these kind of services to differentiate. I wish other companies would follow, and stop “differentiating” through UI modification.
Leave the UI alone or with very small changes, and save money on UI development and updates, and start really differentiating through compelling services.
wish i had that desire hd on tmobile here in the us =(
Лучше HTC с андроидом, может быть только HTC, и тоже с андроидом (почти, как в пословице: если у Вас есть процессор, то он от Intel)!!!
Nokia have had free navigation through OVI Maps for that last 9 months.
yeah, but who cares about nokia the last 4 years? The last widely respected phone was 3310. Respect to OVI maps feature, but they missed the train with HW, SW and design of their phones.
I work for the GetConnected TV show in Canada (you might have seen our show on BNN, MenTV, Sun TV, and CHEK). It’s our mission to stay on top of the tech scene in Canada, and we really appreciate all the Android lovers out there.
One of our current projects is developing a series of short Web videos featuring some of the latest mobile handsets. Our first was for the HTC Desire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V3uWV4XNjs
We’d love your feedback on the video and on the phone itself. With the Desire HD coming soon, it will be really interesting to see what HTC comes up with next, and what they improve.
I purchased the Southern Africa Premium Navigation upgrade for HTC Locations only to find out that unlike Garmin or NDrive they have no idea what Southern Africa is. It only contains South Africa. And they do not want to refund.
As a nav application it is quite good, but support from HTC is I can only rate as -100.
Please be very sure that the region you purchase covers what is needed as they do not know their geography well.