Is TomTom moving to a fully closed system?
Date: Wednesday, June 16 @ 11:06:41 UTC
Topic:
 The arrival of TomTom's START device saw the first unit that could not natively support third party POIs including our speed camera warnings.
Now it seems that TomTom have seen fit to roll out this dumbed down feature list to the XL-2 IQ, XL-2 IQ Live and Ease. Whilst there was a work-around that permitted users to install custom POIs, TomTom have now blocked this with a software update.
Is this a move to differentiate budget models from premium devices or are we seeing a move by TomTom to control their devices and restrict what users can install upon them?
As content providers it is only fair that we declare a vested interest in this issue but the move sets a worrying precedent. Are we going to see further moves to secure the content and prevent third parties from competing with them?
If we take speed camera data as an example, our subscribers have long known how poor TomTom's data is in comparison. If they lock down their units then you will no longer have the benefit of choice in choosing who provides the speed camera data or be able to install community provided POIs.
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