Garmin withdraws $3.3 billion offer for Tele Atlas, sticks with NAVTEQ

The title pretty much says it all on this one, folks. We suppose the thought of countering TomTom's recently raised $4.22 billion offer for mapmaker Tele Atlas weighed too heavy on Garmin's soul (or just seemed too expensive), but whatever the case, its $3.3 billion offer has officially been rescinded. Also of note, the AP claims that the outfit has struck a deal with NAVTEQ (or is that Nokia?), which guarantees it access to those maps through 2015. Currently, there's been no word on whether TomTom will move forward with its apparent plans to snap up Tele Atlas, but it's safe to say the biggest obstacle has been (voluntarily) removed.

[pstelman @ Nov 16th 2007 10:38AM]

I'm disappointed. I was hoping Garmin would get their own mapping company -- and that they would be more flexible with their licensing.

I love Garmin's GPS units, and own several of them. But... I recently got clarification on their licensing agreement with Navteq for end-users:

Once you associate a specific receiver with a map license, you can never transfer it to another unit. So, if you purchase a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx, and purchase a US map license (around $130) and a Europe map license (around $250) for use with it, you can never use those map licenses with another unit you purchase.

If Garmin comes out with a much-improved replacement for the 60CSx next year, and you want to buy it, you have to buy new licenses ($130 + $250) for it. There is no way you can dissociate your existing licenses from your old unit and apply them to the new one.

For me, a gadget nut, and someone who has lots of uses for GPS, that puts me in a bad spot. I'm all for buying new hardware when I want new features, but to have to buy the exact-same software all over again for it... that will make me investigate other brands to see what their policies are.

I really hoped owning their own mapping company would bring Garmin to come up with a more flexible (and sensible) licensing policy. Only being able to use the license on one unit makes complete sense to me, but not being able to transfer it -- in a product sector where the products are frequently upgraded and improved -- makes no sense at all. These guys need to buy a copy of Photoshop, and see how Adobe lets you activate your license on one machine at a time.

[Joey Geraci @ Nov 16th 2007 10:46AM]

Uhm, wow, you have to pay for maps initially? That is insane. I could understand paying for updates, but paying initially for the maps makes no sense. What use is a GPS device without maps?

[Lurch @ Nov 16th 2007 10:49AM]

"These guys need to buy a copy of Photoshop, and see how Adobe lets you activate your license on one machine at a time."

I thought you were about to say 'buy a copy of Photoshop, and draw their own maps' :-)

[JB @ Nov 23rd 2007 12:26AM]

A Gps device without maps is in fact a GPS device. A GPS device with maps is a chartplotter. In the automotive realm I understand that not having maps would be against the point of having the unit but in terms of Aviation, Marine and Outdoor use it is very sensible when using maps and charts to have a GPS device that simply provides location. That is why the vast majority of automotive products come preloaded and the other sectors may not. In fact an increasing number of the units in Marine Aviation and Outdoor are now coming preloaded as well. There is also the option to purchase units without mapping installed. Generally this decision is based on price rather than utility.
Also you have oversimplified the unlock process as many of the maps are either not locked or are able to be unlocked to multiple units(2). The exception tends to be the automotive mapping which is less expensive and sold in single license versions.
Also Adobe is a software company for computers. The GPS device is not a computer and this model does not work the same as with GPS devices for many reasons. Also Garmin does not own the data in the mapping and therefore licensing restrictions are generally negotiated by the mapping company (Navteq, Tele Atlas, Explorer, etc)

[Nogami @ Nov 16th 2007 12:26PM]

Garmin has typically allowed you to activate maps on two separate devices using the same key, so if you have multiple units, you do have some benefit when you purchase maps from them.

It's a shame that they won't own their own mapping company (yet), but for far less than $3.3 billion, they could probably start their own mapping division and create their own maps (heck, they could hire college students to digitize USGS maps).

Ultimately I suspect that Google will be more important in the longrun to GPS developers than plain street/mapping detail. When cars are equipped with some sort of wireless data systems (like they are in Japan already), having the navigation unit pull data from Google will be where the real money and consumer interest is.

[kuthippie @ Nov 16th 2007 11:34AM]

I think I can still here nokia laughing...

[Argot @ Nov 16th 2007 2:48PM]

Is that Nils Holgersson?

[satyavardhanreddy @ Nov 19th 2007 1:22AM]

hahah now will tom tom go back on the offer?? that's good tactic by garmin to make tom tom re-evaluate thier offer..