Apple Uses TomTom To Help Power The New Maps App In iOS 6

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TomTom is hedging its bets by partnering with Apple in the new iOS 6 Maps app.
TomTom is hedging its bets by partnering with Apple in the new iOS 6 Maps app.

Apple announced a brand spanking new Maps application alongside iOS 6 at WWDC yesterday, and the Cupertino company has ditched Google Maps for its own mapping technologies. While much of the new Maps app is powered solely by Apple, TomTom is referenced directly in the new iOS 6 Maps app as well.

While the iOS 6 Maps app is still in the very early beta stages, Apple has baked in new features that make it a killer Google Maps replacement, including turn-by-turn navigation, Siri integration, and an enhanced “Flyover” 3D viewing mode.

You can see several direct references to TomTom in the new Maps app, and the GPS maker has issued a brief statement on the new integration:

TomTom has signed a global agreement with Apple for maps and related information. No further details of the agreement will be provided.

We reached out to TomTom for further clarification, but we don’t expect to hear anything back. After all, we are dealing with an Apple partnership here. TomTom’s stock did surge by 12% following yesterday’s unveiling of the new Maps app. TomTom sells a series of turn-by-turn navigation apps in Apple’s App Store. It will be interesting to see what happens to those kinds of navigation apps following the public debut of iOS 6 later this year.

The full list of acknowledgements for the new Maps app lists a host of partners, including free turn-by-turn/GPS app Waze and Yelp for reviews.

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