TomTom sucks for customisation.

I recently emailed TomTom technical support stating that I was a software developer (and TomTom owner) interested in writing software for the TomTom device. I wanted to know where to get the SDK that they did have available up to about 1 year ago but now seems to have disappeared. This was their response:

Dear Mr Clark,

Thank you for your query. Your incident reference number is 090526-001861.

Unfortunately the Software Development Kit is no longer available from TomTom.

Please note that we are unable to offer any technical support for 3rd party add ons or software tools used in conjunction with your TomTom device.

Best Regards,

David A

TomTom Customer Support

Damn that sucks. What is with companies that want to keep you locked down to the software they make on a device that you own. They don’t even sell the navcore, they make nothing from it – they sell the hardware and the maps! It should only increase the value of the device and maps if there is more software available, and the cost to them of releasing their SDK would be minimal. Pretty short sighted if you ask me.

There are lots of little software projects that are now dead in the water due to the lack of an SDK for the latest version.