'TomTom Support says new maps to be released in Q1 2005'

[MrJ]

Heres the response that I got from TomTom support, when asked about map updates :-

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Response 27/12/2004 12.45 PM

Dear Mr Fletcher,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we can not reveal any specific dates of release, however TomTom does intend to release new/updated maps in the first quarter of 2005. Please keep an eye on our website to find out when confirmation of this appears.

We hope to have answered your question to your satisfaction.
With best regards,

The TomTom Customer Support Team


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Customer 23/12/2004 02.58 PM

Dear Support,

When will I be able to purchase TomTom Go map updates.(CD) ?

Its very frustrating that new purchasers of TomTom get the lastest maps - I cant buy one yet
:-( :-(

Thanks,

Julian Fletcher

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Can others contact Support to confirm this ?

Note that they only "intend".

[DavidW]

There's various signs that new European TomTom maps are coming. The new TomTom Navigator 2004 software for the Pocket PC that comes with USA and Canada maps is going to get a Maps of Western Europe product soon. This software is based on the same "common platform" as Go - and as the USA / Canada maps are recent, I wouldn't be surprised if this is TomTom's opportunity to release maps that use the latest TeleAtlas Europe mapping data.

Meanwhile, TomTom Navigator 3 on the Pocket PC is coming up to a year old, and is likely to be upgraded within the next few months (previous versions have come out once a year, around the end of March). I'd expect the software for the next European release to be "common platform". Even if the add-on for the new USA/Canada Pocket PC product doesn't include the latest TeleAtlas Europe mapping data, it will definitely appear for these products.


With the exception of TomTom Navigator 3 on the Pocket PC, all TomTom's navigation software now uses the "common platform" code. This means that it can't be that much work to release maps for all the different TomTom products once the maps are created. There's obvious differences in installation and activation between different products, but TomTom release maps for all their existing products so they must have some way of handling this now.


I wouldn't keep asking Support - they won't be able to give you anything definite until a public announcement is made, and they're unlikely to be told of detailed confidential plans as they have no reason to know the information. I'm sure Pocket GPS World will bring any news as soon as it's publicly available.


As I said, there's good reason to expect new European maps will be compiled in the next few months - either for the Navigator 2004 Maps of Western Europe add-on to the USA/Canada Pocket PC product, or for the next European version of TomTom Navigator on the Pocket PC.

What we have no idea of until TomTom make an announcement is how they're going to make the maps available for the various products, and what the charges will be (don't expect a free upgrade unless you're a very recent purchaser - there is a licence fee payable to the map data supplier for each upgraded map shipped). That said, TomTom's upgrade charges for updates to TomTom Navigator on the Pocket PC have always been very reasonable at around 40 pounds; let's hope they continue with that policy! The upgrade from TomTom Navigator 2 USA to TomTom Navigator 2004 USA is US$53, which is in the same sort of figure.



David

[MikeB]

A new map release for Q1 would not suprise me in the least. Though I expect it will be Q2 before we get it. TomTom tend to work on yearly releases and the GO first cam on to the scene (in beta test mode) back in April 2004. From that you could expect a new release in April 2005.

This would of course tie in quite nicely with CeBIT in Hannover.

I would point out that this is pure speculation, I am not currently testing anything from TomTom.

As far as the TomTom Navigator HP Edition is concerned, it is the same as TomTom 2004 and does actually come with Maps of Europe on a set of CDs. Only your current region is activated but you can upgrade to the full European maps.
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Mike Barrett

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