Thought TomTom was done after introducing the GO 930 and 730 at CeBIT? Think again, as the company is also unveiling the GO 530, which is the reported successor the GO 520. For starters, this one is slated to arrive and stay in Europe, and its map content will depend largely on what region it is purchased in. As with its higher-numbered siblings, this bugger will also boast IQ Routes and the Advanced Lane Guidance, and it'll also feature a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 resolution display, a 400MHz CPU, 1GB of internal memory, an SD expansion slot, built-in Bluetooth and a Li-ion cell good for around 5 hours. If all that's good enough for you, it'll be ready to grab this April for around £235 ($466).

TomTom might be in a bit of a tussle with the EU lately, but that isn't stopping the company from announcing two new GO models at CeBIT this morning -- say hello to the GO 930 and 730. The updates to the popular 720 and 920 now feature TomTom's new IQ Routes features, which uses a database of historical vehicle speeds along different paths rather than speed limit information to generate route guidance, and Advanced Lane Guidance (shown above), which aims to make navigating complex interchanges a little simpler. Other than that, there's not much of a bump here: both models feature the same 4.3-inch, 480 x 272 touchscreen, 400MHz CPU, Map Share and traffic as their predecessors, and the main difference between the 930 and the 730 is the presence of a dead-reckoning accelerometer in the 930. Expect the $500 730 and $550 930 to hit in April.

Update: If you're in the Netherlands, UK, and Germany, you can also score HD Traffic versions of these bad boys as well, which come bundled with TomTom's new GPRS HD Traffic receiver. The tiny box plugs into a range of compatible TomTom models and provides high-quality traffic data. It's out in the Netherlands now and should be out in the UK and Germany later this year, with France to follow in 2009.

[Thanks, Tim]

Read - GO 930 and GO 730 press release
Read - HD Traffic receiver press release

Reuters is reporting that the European Commission, apparently having completed is inquiry into the $4.2b acquisition offer TomTom made Tele Atlas last year, is issuing a "statement of objections." It's not a flat-out rejection / do not pass go / do not collect $200, but now TomTom supposedly has until May 5th to work on resolving the issues the EU's presented before it can get the thumbs up to make its big buy.

We're currently smitten with that Diesel-powered Loremo, but if we had to pick our second favorite car for the day, it'd be this here Toyota Yaris SR. Not only is it cute and sporty, but the dash rocks a fully-integrated TomTom GPS unit. When docked it not only gives you directions but provides a touchscreen interface for your car stereo, plus Bluetooth integration for hands-free phone integration, and when you're ready to rough it on foot you can pull the TomTom out of the car and carry it with you as a regular portable GPS unit. Now for the sadderness: Toyota is only offering this car in Europe right now, so us hapless Americans are going to have to stick with by our sextants for the time being.

Sure, those Mr. T / Dennis Hopper navtones were pretty humorous for a trip around the block or two, but seriously, how many times can you stand to hear "fool!" on a trip from Tuscaloosa to Fargo? That being said, we're not confident we'd want to listen to ourselves for that long, but for the folks who feel otherwise, YourPND is out to make your dreams a reality. Though the website wasn't created in our native tongue, it appears that TomTom owners (Garmin, Mio, etc. coming soon) simply record a select number of phrases to the site, after which they can cough up €7 ($10) and download the results on to their navigator. Sounds like the perfect gift for someone who just loathes hearing you talk, don'tcha think?

[Via NaviGadget]

If you've been drooling over the little TomTom add-on for the iPhone we nabbed a "photo" of the other day, you can probably wipe the spittle off your chin. It looks like the image makes a fatal flaw in borrowing its barcode from a fairly well-known iPod fake (pictured above). Additionally, in researching our tipster, we've discovered he's a graphic designer with a penchant for Apple fakes -- not exactly a confidence builder. So it appears we've got more rumor shot down -- though we hope TomTom and Jobs are paying attention, because it's painfully obvious that the people want GPS on this thing, and they want it now.

[Thanks, thecreativ1]

Here's a fresh Apple rumor in the run-up to MacWorld: a TomTom GPS module for the iPhone. We just received this supposed photographic "evidence" of said device from a Dutch tipster. Our take? Might be, might not. TomTom is a Dutch company and a righteous, straight-talkin' Dutchman would never tell such a fib, would he? On the other hand, that device is clearly not in a car heading to Rotterdam. Still, it could be a route demo and that stretch of highway (A13/E19) is a favorite for internal TomTom validation studies. Surely a move towards GPS is a logical next step for Apple -- particularly after that little VW concept. And with Apple on the verge of opening the iPhone to third party developers, well, anything goes, eh?

It looks like TomTom users looking for a little additional help with directions could now have the fix they've been searching for, as TomTom announced today that it's teamed up with Google in an attempt to bridge the divide between Google Maps and its array of GPS devices. To that extent, you're now apparently able to search for businesses on Google Maps and send all the necessary information straight to your TomTom GPS, albeit with TomTom's Home software acting as a mediator. That's, of course, decidedly less exciting than some of the Google Maps-to-GPS interaction we've seen in other parts of the world, but a welcome addition nonetheless.

[Via CNNMoney]

The European Commission has just opened an investigation into TomTom's proposed purchase of Tele Atlas, claiming that consumers could be hurt by a GPS hardware maker owning one of the two major digital map providers. Specifically, the so-called "in-depth inquiry," which will be concluded no later than April 17th of next year, stems from "serious doubts that the acquisition by TomTom of Tele Atlas might...lead to a significant impediment of effective competition within the EEA." With Nokia going after NAVTEQ and Garmin having given up on Tele Atlas, this investigation clearly makes sense from the free market standpoint, as the Dutch firm is not likely to slip past without at least committing to fair map licensing terms for other PND manufacturers. In response to the Commission's announcement, TomTom decided to extend its offer for shares of Tele Atlas until March 31st, 2008, with the option to issue another extension if certain conditions are not met.

[Thanks, Daniel]

The predicted bidding war between Garmin and TomTom over a takeover of Tele Atlas has certainly come to fruition, with TomTom all set to go ahead with a $4.2 billion bid taking place on Monday. Garmin stepped back from the brink on Friday, after offering a measly $3.3 billion. Tele Atlas's management must certainly be happy that the company didn't jump earlier, because it was only a few months ago that TomTom's offer was $2.5 billion. Does anyone else get the feeling that these numbers are starting to lose their meaning?

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.

Finally, it's over. TomTom and Garmin have settled their intellectual property dispute in courts spanning the UK, The Netherlands, Wisconsin and of course, Texas. No details were provided, this time. Of course, they're still battling for Tele Atlas in the courts of the free market so we're not expecting to see the two shacking-up in the suburbs anytime soon.

TomTom just lit up its High Definition Traffic, premium traffic service in The Netherlands. Announced in parallel is the ONE XL HD Traffic navigator, for what's a traffic service without a GPS device to take advantage of it? The ONE XL HD Traffic shares the same 4.3-inch LCD of its ONE XL brethren only now with the addition of 1GB of built-in storage and a new SIM card (no activation or configuration required) for live traffic data feeds over Vodafone's GSM network. Traffic information collected anonymously from Dutch Vodafone mobile phones and third party traffic authorities is updated every 3 minutes -- that's 5x the traffic updates and 10x the road coverage of typical traffic systems according to TomTom. Available in TomTom's home country of The Netherlands this month (UK in first half of 2008) for €399 (about $581) including a one year HD Traffic subscription renewable for €9.95/month. An HD Traffic accessory for existing TomTom products will be available in early 2008.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Man, we were only half kidding when we suggested that Tele Atlas hold out for more money. But sure enough, they're now looking at a sweet €30.00 per share offer as followup to TomTom's original €21.25 offer which took just a tad too long to formalize. That's a bump from $2.56 billion to $4.22 billion. So Garmin... you ready to bump your $3.3 billion bid or shall we just consider this matter closed?