Saturday, May 06, 2006

TeleAtlas and Pioneer set partnership

location based services

Tele Atlas announced it has signed an agreement with digital entertainment leader Pioneer Corporation to supply European and North American digital map data and point of interest (POI) content for Pioneer’s current and future in car navigation systems, including the new AVIC-X1BT and AVIC-N3 series of products. We've seen a few of these Pioneer GPS systems hit the market lately and it's no surprise that Pioneer is making a commitment to the skyrocketing GPS category. As TomTom, Garmin and Magellan move their units towards stereos with MP3 players, Pioneer is moving the GPS function into the stereo.

Pioneer is the market leading supplier of after market navigation systems in Europe, the U.S. and Japan that combine innovative touch panel control and voice commands with a sophisticated menu designed for ease of use, precise position information and advanced routing features. Tele Atlas’ digital map data and relevant point of interest content such as hotels, restaurants and entertainment will help Pioneer system users easily find places and products of interest, and the most direct route to them.

“This partnership melds a technically innovative navigation system with rich, useful content and the most accurate digital map data in the world,” said Tele Atlas Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Alain de Taeye. “We’re honored to collaborate with such an advanced consumer electronics company to deliver highly useful services to mobile consumers everywhere.”