International GPS leader chooses Country as priority market
DCI
Brazil is at the top of the list of priorities of the Dutch TomTom company, the international leader in portable solutions for navigation - mainly known for the GPS (global positioning system) devices that have maps and routes to guide drivers. "There are around 30 million vehicles in the Brazilian market and not even 10% of them have GPS", affirms Elias Kabeche, TomTom's director for Latin America. "The potential, thus, is huge, and, therefore, we are making launchings here at the same time as in Europe".
The company is a case of technology-related business that skyrocketed in a few years. Founded in 1991, it had earnings of 8 million Euros in 2002 and, from then on, the growth took place in geometric scale: last year, the earnings reached 1.7 billion Euros, or more than R$ 4.5 billion. The billionaire earnings were mainly a result of TomTom's progress in Europe, where it has 46% of the market of portable navigation devices (PND), and in the United States, where the company has a 23% market share.
Elias Kabeche affirms that, with such good figures, the expansion plans have been sped up and Brazil gained a place of prominence in the radar of the company: "The potential is enormous", he assures. "Besides the wide range of consumers that still do not have GPS in Brazil, there is a significant demand still not catered to. In municipalities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba, it is important for drivers to know what the most appropriate routes to go from one point to another without facing much traffic are".
With an eye on the Brazilian market, TomTom has recently launched the "One Brasil", a small device with a more powerful loudspeaker "that assures the driving instructions are clearer and more easily understood", according to Kabeche. The market that works in this segment foresees the launching of three new TomTom products in Brazil in 2010. And it expects other news still this year.