A recent press report revealed that, this past holiday season, Garmin had a 45% market share for automotive GPS receivers in the U.S. The big news though was TomTom, which went from virtually no U.S. presence to 25% of the market. And the loser in all this was Magellan, which dropped from number one to third, with a 20% market share.
Garmin’s ascension doesn’t surprise me. I’ve owned and tried out multiple Garmin units and have always found them to be quality products with intuitive menus. I can’t personally comment on TomTom in this regard; I’m hoping to have an opportunity to test one of their products soon. I can tell you that TomTom’s rise was fueled in part by an aggressive advertising campaign and distribution via BestBuy.
The wild card in all this is the lawsuit filed earlier this month by Garmin against TomTom. A loss could force TomTom to withdraw from the U.S. market, alter their technology, or license it from Garmin.
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