Dutch manufacturer of car navigation systems (or, to put it more simply, navigators) and software for them. It also produces software for mobile phones, communicators and PDAs.
company (then called palm top) was founded in 1991 by two graduates of the University of Amsterdam, Peter-Frans Pauwels and Pieter Geelen. Initially, they were engaged in the creation of software for handheld devices. Experience in creating programs for psion turned out to be successful, the company's revenues began to grow. Attempts are being made to sell products both in other European countries and outside Europe. With the advent of the company's first handheld in 1996 Palm, TomTom starts software development and Palm OS. In the future, support will also begin Windows Mobile.
Two more new partners come to the company. First, in 1994, Corinne Vigreux is the current Managing Director of the company. And in 2001 in palm top comes Harold Goddijn, former CEO psion. It is from his submission that the company receives a more sonorous and memorable name. tom tom. In the same year, the company's first car navigator appeared - a device with a simple name. Tom Tom Navigator, which lasted on the market for about two years, until at the beginning of 2003 it was replaced by TomTom Navigator 2.
 |
| TomTom GO 940 LIVE (image from the official site) |
In 2004, the first all-in-one navigation device appears Tom Tom Go, which did not require any additional plug-ins from outside. Appears in the same year Tom Tom Mobile is the first in-car navigation system based on a smartphone.
By the end of 2008 - beginning of 2009, tom tom is a leading manufacturer of navigation systems in Europe. The company was acquired in 2009 teleatlas, engaged in the creation of digital maps, for 2.9 billion euros.
One of the episodes in the history of the company is associated with a lawsuit from Microsoftwho filed for tom tom sued for infringement of some of her patents. Since some of the TomTom products use the operating system linux, this process went down in history as the first when Microsoft openly opposed Linux systems. In response, the navigator manufacturer filed a counterclaim in which it accused the software giant of infringing its patents. As a result, the parties parted amicably, with minimal casualties.
The company's headquarters is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
