GPS TOOLz: May 2008

TomTom profits drop 83% due to price cuts

The war for the low end of the GPS market promises to be a bloody one, and it looks like TomTom's suffered the first major injury: quarterly profits at the device maker dropped 83 percent from last year, and the company says it's due to competitive price cuts.

TomTom made a net profit of just €7.3M ($11.4M) this quarter compared to €44M ($66.2M) in the year-ago quarter, results which led the company to lower its outlook for the entire year.

The company actually sold 50 percent more devices than it did a year ago, but as PND prices steadily fall, it looks like TomTom will have to figure out a new way to pad those margins and refill its piggy bank if that $4.2B all-cash Tele Atlas deal goes through.

TomTom intros ONE 130, XL 330 GPS units with new car mount

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As before, the TomTom ONE 130 (pictured above) occupies the low end with a 3.5-inch display, though it sports a redesigned and slimmer body this time around, along with a companion model in the form of the ONE 130S, which adds text-to-speech functionality.

Look for the whole lot to be available next month, with the ONE 130 setting you back $200, the ONE 130S and XL 330 each running $250, and the XL 330S coming in at $300.

Moving on up a bit, the TomTom XL 330 boasts a 4.3-inch widescreen display, and is also available in an XL 330S text-to-speech model.

TomTom may be having some profit troubles these days, but that's apparently not stopping it from getting plenty of new products out the door, with it now announcing four new models in its TomTom ONE and TomTom XL series, along with a spiffy new car mount to go along with 'em.

Otherwise, all the models will give you support for TomTom's Map Share technology, support for an optional RDS-TMC traffic receiver, and TomTom's new EasyPort mount (pictured after the break), which can be folded away into the device itself.

If none of those float your boat, you can also take a gander at TomTom's previously-announced x30 series devices, which the company informs us are now available in North America.

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TomTom profits drop 83% due to price cuts

TomTom intros ONE 130, XL 330 GPS units with new car mount

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