TomTom 2011 Annual Report Download - page 6

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TomTom Annual Report and Accounts 2011
4
Adapting to a changing environment
—
We have a history of adapting to changing industry developments.
Our company started out as a bespoke software developer.
Within a few years we transformed the company into a consumer
focused application developer. Early in the millennium, we shifted
our focus to car drivers and launched the fi rst GPS-linked car
navigation app. During this time we also established the TomTom
brand. A few years later we transformed our GPS-linked car
navigation app into an affordable turn-by-turn navigation solution,
the PND. In fact, we kick-started an entire industry by creating a
new product category and democratising navigation. During these
years of growth we invested signifi cantly in new businesses and
technologies that are currently sources of growth for our company
– in-dash navigation, maps, traffi c and fl eet management services.
There is no question that this is a time of rapid and fundamental
change for our industry. New technologies and changing business
models facilitate new user behaviour.
Long-term vision
—
Around the globe over a billion cars are driven by people who
have very similar aims: to get to their destinations safely and
effi ciently, to be well informed about their options, and hopefully
to enjoy the journey. TomTom has the assets and technology to
equip every car with navigation and location services, and can
therefore serve all these people.
I believe that we can achieve this by taking a device-agnostic
approach. In today’s world, device purposes increasingly overlap
with each other. We must aim to supply the necessary content,
software and levels of service regardless of the platform used.
Our world is also increasingly interconnected. Today, people
want to connect to family, friends, work and information sources
wherever they are. These developments are highly relevant to
the automotive industry. That is why we have been working on
realising the truly connected car in cooperation with Renault. Our
unique set of assets enables us to offer the automotive industry all
the content and services it needs, from maps to real-time services.
The R-link product that we have co-developed with Renault has
given us all a fi rst glimpse of the possibilities in this area. Our aim
is to bring relevant and up-to-date information to car drivers in
a new and unprecedented way. The future is connected.
As part of this, we understand that our role in helping drivers
is not limited to the times when they are actually in their cars.
In the future, the planning phase of every car journey will also be
important, as well as the time after people have parked their cars.
We have a role to play here too in offering our customers a
seamless cross-platform travel experience.
2012
—
Looking to the coming year, we will complete the restructuring
process early in the year and increase our focus on the growth
parts of our business, in order to claim a leading position in
the rise of the connected car and grow our position as a fl eet
management services and location and navigation content
provider. At the same time, we will continue to fully leverage our
leading position in the PND market. In particular, we will stimulate
demand by ensuring that we provide our customers with the latest
technologies and world-class navigation and location experiences.
I am very proud of our achievements as a company over the
past twenty years. We could not have reached this point in our
journey without the efforts, insight, creativity and commitment of
our employees, partners and all the other stakeholders who have
stood by us during these years of change and development.
I am also excited about the journey we have ahead of us.
We are operating in a rapidly changing environment, and while
it presents us with a number of important challenges, I believe
that it also offers signifi cant opportunities for our business. I am
committed to taking TomTom successfully through the next
stage of its evolution necessary to address the challenges and
opportunities that we face today.
Harold Goddijn | Chief Executive Offi cer, TomTom NV
CEO Letter | continued