TomTom car kit appears in Apple's store, but it's not yet shipping
The long-awaited TomTom car kit for the iPhone has finally arrived at the Apple store. The hardware/software combination hardware unit sells for US $119.95. [Sorry about the mixup. As noted in the comments, the app is an additional $50-$100 depending on your locale.]
The cradle is designed to enhance the TomTom GPS app [iTunes link], which has been available since July.
The kit provides secure docking and enhanced GPS performance with its own built-in GPS receiver. The car kit will charge your iPhone and give you for hands-free calling. The unit also has an audio out connector so you can play your music through your car audio system, however, the cable that enables this is not included.
The TomTom solution has been criticized by some for being too expensive because the car kit plus the cost of the Tom Tom navigation application is more than $200. One could easily buy a standalone GPS for less than that, although you have more hardware to carry.
The TomTom has also fallen a bit behind the best-selling Navigon application which includes a text-to-speech feature and has received generally better reviews from consumers.
According to the Apple Store, the car kit is not yet available, and there is no time estimate of a ship date. (Note: some of our readers are getting December 4 ship dates from the Apple Store.)
[Thanks to all our readers for tipping us to this story]
