Two interesting stories in the world of GPS today;
1. GPS was named one of the top 10 innovations of the decade by ABCNews. Story here. GPS has been around for decades, so why is is a top innovation of this decade? As GPSWorld.com points out, it was the turning off of Selective Availability in May of 2000 that improved accuracy and effectively open the technology to developer s and manufacturers letting them create thing like pet finders, fleet tracking, family finders, WHERE and PND solutions.
2. TCS (Nasdaq: TSYS) or TeleCommunication Systems announced today that they are buying turn-by-turn navigation provider Networks in Motion for $170M in cash, stock and promissory notes. An interesting move by TCS for sure. This comes on the heals of TeleNav's S1 filing to go public and looking to raise $175M, and Google's announcement and delivery of Google Maps Navigation which is free on the Android OS. So, is this a strategic move by TCS to fatten themselves up for an acquisition by a bigger player like MSFT, or maybe even Garmin? Time will tell, but I think that specifically on the heals of the Google announcement this is a great exit for NiM.
