Keep on truckin'... Qualcomm sells OmniTRACS for $800m Chip designer Qualcomm has sold off the product which made its name; the OmniTRACS vehicle-tracking platform which has been keeping truckers on the leash for 25 years. The market-leading vehicle management platform – certainly in the United States – OmniTRACS uses satellite communications to track and connect fleet vehicles, …
US truckers know this as a "tattler". In good hands it's nothing but upsides (you can get word of road trouble down the road and go around it.) In the hands of a micromanager, it apparently is pretty bad... get done with a 2000 mile trip and get grilled over why you went the extra 1.8 miles for a nice diner instead of a greasy spoon along the highway.
Tattler, too funny. Telling on what, bad driving habits, or out of route miles. It's there to make you more effective at your job, driving the truck, not bucking the system. If your leaving a city half empty, and dispatch can't call you, your company loses money and opportunity. You haul air. You get in trouble, they come help you. The old guard truck driver will eventually die off.
It's more that the intersection of those who want them and those who can afford them is quite small. Small enough that there aren't enough customers to sustain a satellite phone business.
You'd think they would have researched that before starting the biz...
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