TomTom 2005 Annual Report Download - page 14
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CompanyProfile
Overview
TomTomisaleadingproviderofpersonalnavigation
productsandservicesinEurope,NorthAmericaand
Australia.Ourproductsincludeportableall-in-one
navigationdevices,whichenableourcustomersto
useourproductsrightoutofthebox,andsoftware
solutionsforuseonPDAsandsmartphones,toenable
navigationonthesedevices.Thecompanyalsosupplies
location-basedinformationsuchasweatherandtraffic
dataandpointsofinterestforthesedevices.
AttheheartofTomTom’stechnologyisaprovensoftware
architecturewhichisthefoundationofallofourproducts.
ThissoftwareplatformiscalledNavcoreanditcanbe
usedacrossawidevarietyofhardwareplatformsand
operatingsystems.Virtuallyallofthesoftwareusedin
ourproductsisdevelopedin-house.
Wedesignourproductswithanemphasisoninnovation,
quality,easeofuseandvalue.Wefocusontheend-user
experiencewiththegoalofmakingnavigationeasyand
fun.Ourproductsaremanufactured,accordingtoour
specifications,byourcontractmanufacturingpartners.
Wesellourproductsandservicesthroughanextensive
networkofretailers,themajorityofwhomareservedby
severallargedistributioncompanies.Someofour
productsandservicesarealsosoldonline,byon-line
retailersandthroughthecompany’sownwebsite
(www.tomtom.com).
In2005wesoldourproductsin20countriesandin
32languages.Wehaveofficesin11locationsinEurope,
Asia,NorthAmericaandAustralia.
History
In1991Peter-FransPauwelsandPieterGeelen,both
recentlygraduatedfromAmsterdamUniversity,founded
abusinesscalledPalmtoptodevelopapplicationsforthe
firstgenerationofhandheldcomputers.Inthosedays,
mostapplicationswereforbusinessuse,butitsoon
becameclearthatpeoplewantedpersonalorganisersfor
privateuse,andPalmtopstartedtodevelopapplications
thatrangedfromdictionariesandpersonalfinance
productstogamesandrouteplanners.
TohelpselltheseapplicationsinEurope,CorinneVigreux
joinedthecompanyfromPsionin1994.Thehandheld
marketexpandedquickly,especiallyafterthelaunchof
thePalmPilotin1996,andtheappearanceofthefirst
Microsoft-baseddevices.Palmtopdesignedapplications
forallofthem.
In2001,HaroldGoddijnbecamethefourthfullpartner.
AstheformerCEOofthecomputerdivisionofPsion,
headdedthenecessarybreadthofvisiontobothgrow
thecompanyandgiveitfocus.Anewnamewasneeded
toshowournewfocus,andwedecidedonTomTom.
TomTomcalledonallitsstrengthstomakethefirsttruly
mobilein-carnavigationsolution,TomTom
NAVIGATOR
foruseonPDAs.BythetimethatTomTom
NAVIGATOR
2
hitthemarketinthespringof2003,itwasclearthatthe
needtogetfromAtoBwithoutgettinglostwentway
beyondPDAowners.Otherpeopleneededtonavigate,
andtheywouldneedadedicatedproductthatwasvery
easytouse.Andlikeamap,oraskingalocal,itshouldn’t
needamanual.
TomTomcontactedMarkGretton,formerCTOofthe
computerdivisionofPsionandoneofthecreatorsofthe
originalPsionSeries3,tojointhecompanytodevelopan
all-in-onenavigationproduct.AlexanderRibbink,aformer
VicePresidentofbranddevelopmentatUnileverandlater
aEuropeanPortfolioDirectoratMarsInc.,joined
TomTominNovember2003todrivethemarketingofour
growingrangeofproducts.TomTomGO,theeasiestto
useandmostportablestand-alonecarnavigationdevice