Client
TomTom

Design Consultancy
Therefore Product Design Consultants
Jim Fullalove
020 7723 8322
jf@therefore.com
www.therefore.com

The Challenge
Until 2003 TomTom provided navigation software and digitised maps for PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). But the company realised that it would not reach volume sales until people in the mainstream consumer market were encouraged to throw away their paper maps. This meant in-car navigation systems had to be democratised: moving away from complex, expensive, built-in systems and towards an easy, accessible and consumer-focused product.

The Brief
Product designers Therefore were asked to develop an all-in-one, easy to use portable navigation system that provided an affordable ‘out of the box’ experience for car drivers. The device had to be simple, friendly and neutral design (to blend in with any car interior) with a finger operated interface. It also needed to be a self-contained unit with internal GPS receiver, antenna and speaker.

TomTom GO

Commander SK

The Design
TomTom GO is an in-car navigation device that can be easily moved from one car to another. Key features include its windscreen-mounted cradle and touch-screen display: while PDAs traditionally present maps in portrait mode, Therefore specified a horizontally orientated LCD screen, feeling that landscape format was more suitable and accessible. The integrated speaker is 2inches in diameter, in order to ensure voice instructions can clearly be heard, while the antenna and battery cell are contained within a soft rounded form to ease portability.

The Results
TomTom GO has been available in shops since May 2004 and is now the European leader – it had a 57.1% market share by the end of 2005 – in a market worth £1.34billion (Euro 2billion) which it effectively created. TomTom’s sales revenues, £130million (Euro 192million) in 2004, have risen to £485million (Euro 720millon) in 2005 – an increase of 275%, 66% of which can be attributed to the GO product. The portability of the system and its ease of use were named as a reason for buying the product by nearly 70% of consumers surveyed and testers and reviewers regularly describe the product as well designed, friendly and even ‘cute’.

Judge’s Comments
‘Terrific… A fantastic story – all about design and nothing but design’ said the judges, adding that this was ‘the only market creator and market dominator’ in this year’s Awards. ‘TomTom GO has successfully encapsulated functionality and performance into a high quality product that is portable, easy to use and affordable,’ said Ian Humphries, Corporate Communications Director, Fujitsu.