TomTom Vs Google's Navigation app

update: 20/12/2011

Car navigation systems maker TomTom has been experiencing a slump in sales and has recently detailed plans to cut around 10% jobs globally. A major reason for this is attributed to the development of GPS enabled mobile phones and more specifically the Android phones which come with Google's turn-by-turn Navigation app.

The major advantage of the Navigation app. over TomTom is that it is completely free. Furthermore, maps are updated more frequently and the updates are free as well.

I bought my TomTom One in 2007 and upgraded the maps in 2009. As I wrote in one of my old post, I was thoroughly disappointed with the new map. Several post codes were missing - including some which were present in the older map.

Quite recently I was going over to a friend's apartment here in Coventry and like several new builds, I could not find the address on my TomTom. In the end I had to use my Samsung's Navigation app. It was a bit frustrating a couple of time when the map lagged behind and I had to slow down a couple of times. However, it did get me to my friend's apartment in the end and even showed me a picture of the building when I arrived.

All Satnav makers including TomTom and Garmin are going to face some serious challenge from Google in the near future and I feel that offering frequent and free updates to their maps might be one way to retain their customers.