TomTom clears up iPhone car kit slip: £99.99 for the hardware alone, app sold separately
By Darren Murph 
posted September 24th 2009 12:27PM
posted September 24th 2009 12:27PM
TomTom unveils the price of the TomTom car kit for the iPhone
London, 24 September 2009 – TomTom announces today that the TomTom car kit for the iPhone will have a recommended retail price of £99.99
The TomTom car kit will be available this October and will be sold separately from the TomTom app. It will be compatible with the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS.
All further details on the car kit will be made available soon.
London, 24 September 2009 – TomTom announces today that the TomTom car kit for the iPhone will have a recommended retail price of £99.99
The TomTom car kit will be available this October and will be sold separately from the TomTom app. It will be compatible with the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS.
All further details on the car kit will be made available soon.
So if you get a phone call it does or doesn't quit the app...?
Hardware looks nice though..
It should detect whether your car is moving and if it is, tell the caller that you'll call them back later.
@Topmounter
Are you serious? What happened to hands free talking? It should alert you and then you have the option to answer it and you should be able to talk on the phone and watch the navigation at the same time...
@Galen
So where does the driving part figure into this?
I am starkly aware that when i am on the phone, hands-free, that my concentration for driving and awareness of other road users decreases and navigating with the GPS can have a similar effect. Drivers need to admit to themselves that the human brain cannot mutlitask and concentrate on driving safely for everyone.
Hey does anyone know if the dock is actually going to be doing any of the processing for the TomTom GPS app? I believe I remember there being that capability when the iPhone 3.0 OS was demoed at one of the Apple events. If it does it might be worth the money. I currently own the Navigon GPS app on my 3G and it is amazing.. but runs slow as crap-- I'm sure the TomTom app is the same. And as far as the person a few replies below me with Google Maps on his G1? Really man? You are satisfied with that? Really? You have low standards.
I doubt it'll actually deny incoming calls when the phone is moving, that'd suck if you are riding with someone with the nav app open.
@Cas
Good that you just say "your concentration decreases", don't try to apply your own experience to everybody.
@Tin
Im afraid its not just my opinion it is a fact.
A quick search of the internet will reveal the research that has been done showing that speaking on a phone while driving is on par with the impairment of consuming alcohol or sleep deprivation.
@galen
In Japan, phones have a "driving mode" that will leave a seperate voice message letting callers know that the user is driving and will call back. And yes, there have been several studies that show it's not the phone, it's the conversation that distracts the driver "teh googlez" is a beautiful thing. If a call is so important that it can't wait people can politely pull off to the side of the road and take the call. How hard is that, really?
In NJ, I used to get so aggravated because at least once a week, some soccer mom in a 3-ton SUV on her cell phone would try and share my lane. Even after they passed a state-wide hands free law people are still idiots. Even the cops talk on cell phones while driving there. When moving down the highway at 80mph it's bad enough, but it's even worse when you see people doing it in a parking lot where there are lots of moving targets to track.
Research is for general statistics.
It however, doesn't apply to specifics as they can talk on the phone chase a car and capture video all at once in a safety manner. These are specially trained people. They are trained to do that. Which means they can maintain low computing power to process on driving as driving is a 2nd nature just like you breath the air you don't need to think.
Price fail!
I'll stick with my G1 with free google maps, thank you. My car mount cost $5, and that's plenty for me.
I think Tomtom has realised that the average iphone user can't see passed the app store and won't realise that they are paying over the odds for the whole kit. Companies have learnt to take advantage of ignorance.
Umm...DEDICATED GPS systems now cost less than $100.
Still, user "Muddy" is right. iTards will rejoice at ONLY paying close to a $120-$150 for voice-by-voice navigation.
Correction:
turn-by-turn* voice navigation.
Damn chai-latte messed me up. Should've stuck to coffee.
first of all... this is a third party product by a respectable company that is known for great GPS units.
second, the kit is still going to be cheaper than a stand-alone unit by the same company.... only it's RIGHT THERE on your phone and doesn't require the car kit to work.
third, talking about peoples ignorance and spelling the word "learned" as "learnt" is just silly.
@Prokanda - How do you figure? 100 British Pounds Sterling is $164. Add on to that $100 for the application. That's getting a little pricey even for a TomTom.
@Prokanda Wow wrong on every level.
First. I know Tomtom is respectable company. I will be getting one when I get a company car and will be buying one for someone as a birthday present.
Second. You do realise you are also buying a car kit with this and that it is altogether more expensive than a stand alone unit?
Third. From AskOxford.com and the country where English comes from.
"These are alternative forms of the past tense and past participle of the verb learn. Learnt is more common in British English, and learned in American English. There are a number of verbs of this type (burn, dream, kneel, lean, leap, spell, spill, spoil etc.). They are all irregular verbs, and this is a part of their irregularity."
$264 is not too much for a premium GPS unit (I understand the price conversion, thanks, douche).... and you're also paying for the convenience of having it in your phone. also, the docking kit is not required for the application to work.
going to tomtom.com shows that their units start at 119 and go up to 400... so 264 with the convenience of being able to have ONE device to do it all (music, video, phone, GPS.. whatever) is what you're paying for... the people that will be getting this (in the US at least) have already shelled out between 200-300 for a phone that costs a MINIMUM of 90 dollars a month for service... I don't think another 164 to make it an EXCELLENT GPS unit with tried-and-true navi software is too far fetched.
maybe YOU should check some details and not assume that I'm completely daft on the price conversion next time, mate.
That went from a great deal and one up on Navigon to an also-ran....just like that.
Haha, £160 for the software and mount. Right then, so what are the benefits of this over say... an XL classic?
Well, there are various benefits (easy to take with you, has your music on it, has your contacts, etc) but price isn't one of them. I very much want a solution like this rather than a dedicated GPS system but I am not prepared to pay the sort of money that TomTom wants, Alternative hardware solutions will likely arrive and it's just going to be a matter of time before prices drop to something approaching sensible.
£99.99 + the app + iPhone = FAIL
£99.99 for a car charger that has a sucker to stick on the windscreen, Tom Tom must think peple where born yesterday you can get a full retail unit with windscreen mount for that.
Time to check your local auction site for a much cheaper import me thinks.
also enhanced gps receiver. rather large addition, that, but not worth the price for me.
They were as they cater to Apple crowd... :)
Yeah, and that "sucker" (not the consumer, har har, the window mount) WILL EVENUTALLY FAIL and fall off while you're driving. Especially if you run the AC in a high humidity part of the world.
I eventually had to superglue the mount, base, and suction cup all together to my dashboard to keep my tomtom from falling off while I was driving around at 70 MPH.
Ridiculous!
And to think people were complaining that the Zune HD needs a $90 dock to play HD video on an external monitor.
How much is the Sirius dock so you can listen to satellite radio on your iPhone?
What is this Zune you speak of?
I thought the "what's a Zune" meme was officially dead?
I can't wait for an iPhone/Monster Cable hook-up!!
Or he's not from North America, in which case 'what's a Zune?' is a perfectly valid question.
It's probably such a rip off just to push you to buy an actually tom tom GPS unit since they cost about the same. The Iphone sucks for GPS, atleast the sprint phones include a real gps program for free. I have trouble using Maps in the city on my Iphone since my location seems to jump all around when close to any tall buildings. ATT is such a greedy money hungry company. Especially in these hard times. Grrr..
Or is that Apple? Whatever, it sucks either way.
That's why there is a seprerate GPS chip in the TomTom holder,.. still too expensive, but it's not just a simple cradle...
LOL, so it's basically £99 for a suction cup and charging cable, which is useless unless you pay another £60 for the software? Or am I missing something here?
Meanwhile TomTom offers standalone, 3.5" devices with the accessories, starting at, what, $99?
This product would ONLY be interesting if it was less than $100 for BOTH the software and mount, AND the iPhone supported background applications.
As is now, you pay a premium, AND you lose functionality of your phone! (Not to say that there won't be miseducated consumers who still take the ass raping.)
F A I L
It also includes a built in GPS chip that is better than the iPhone's. Price still sucks though
I believe the dock also has a built in FM transmitter that works for phone calls as well.
Not an FM Transmitter but a bluetooth speaker/microphone unit for handsfree calling.
So it is a GPS unit (without display), a charger, a cradle and a bluetooth hands-free unit. Not so bad?
@scw Yeah, except I already have a bluetooth hookup in my Car, so either I don't need this, or it will actively mess things up. Now is it worth the price to me?
Because poor people are suckers.
...everyone who doesn't have GPS built in is automatically poor? Really?
wow.
Yes. Or at least they soon will be once they buy the iPhone, mount, and TomTom software!
Given that the App is probably the same or similiar to what is found on the lower end of TomTom models 130/140/ONE XL, this price is definitely a FAIL!. Sure, you can have everything on a single device, but look at the tradeoffs---killing the battery on the iPhone, interupting Nav if your taking or making a call and you can't run other apps when in Nav mode.
Bugger that...
What a successful launch! Shot down in a couple of hours.....I see Tom Tom have placed an advert for a new marketing manager! Priced to fail.
Surely just buy a stand-alone sat nav unit for £80 and don't spend £90 for an overpriced ipod dock + £70 for a bloated iphone app?
I don't understand why anyone would buy this sh*t.
Bloated? Sorry, you'll have to run that by me again. I thought people were complaining that the TomTom iPhone application didn't do enough and not that it did too much. That something bad is "bloated" is a phrase that is thrown around too much and too inaccurately. That everything is "fail" is also getting on my nerves...
Oh tom tom... why why? =(
Why is the iPod touch relevant if it's not capable of Edge/3G network away from a land wi-fi line. Isn't that the whole infrastructure that the navigation relies on to function?