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http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/25/kit.sold.apart.from.gps.iphone.app/

TomTom iPhone car kit to sell for $120

updated 12:00 pm EDT, Fri September 25, 2009

 

Kit sold apart from GPS iPhone app


TomTom has announced official pricing for its upcoming iPhone car kit, which complements the company's GPS app. The accessory will be available for 100 EUR overseas or $120 in the US market. The price does not include the TomTom app, which is available with US and Canadian base maps for $100.

The car kit serves as a dock for the iPhone, allowing the device to be oriented vertically or horizontally depending on individual preferences. The build appears similar to the company's dash holders for standalone GPS devices. Further specs have yet to be announced, although the kit is likely to enable hands-free calling. [via GPS Tracklog]


by MacNN Staff

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 iPhone, GPS, accessories, TomTom

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  1. DeezNutts

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2008

    +1
    09/25, 12:20pm | report spam | Reply |

    Expensive option

    Seems like a pricey proposition after buying the app and the car kit.

    What does this offer over a standalone Tom Tom or other standalone device made by Garmin?

    I have a feeling not enough to justify the price.

    I'll stick with my current Nuvi and pass on this.

  1. KaiserX

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2007

    +1
    09/25, 12:29pm | report spam | Reply |

    Needs Krack Pipe Accessory

    Too much. I'll stick with my Garmin. I'm worried that after the coolness factor wears off, this'll be more of a hinderance than feature in the car. Especially when I have to talk on the phone.

  1. brainworks

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2009

    -1
    09/25, 12:41pm | report spam | Reply |

    too much - no fm transmitter

    i wanted this so bad when I heard about it, but that's just overpriced. will it work with all future iphones? i'm very hesitant to invest

    for the big price tag, still no fm transmitter in addition to line-out audio? For me, this would have been a nice addition so I can transfer to different cars easily

    none of the cradles with gps amping seem to have fm transmitters

  1. slider

    Mac Elite

    Joined: Oct 1999

    +1
    09/25, 12:55pm | report spam | Reply |

    Price vs. Lifetime

    I'd be happy to pay this price if I could somehow be assured that I could use it for several years down the road. Fact is I can't be. Two years (term of an iPhone contract) will probably see a enough of a redesign of the iPhone where this cradle would be useless. For this price, the cradle needs to be designed in a manner that would allow it to be updated as iPhone designs change. It does work with the original iPhone so I'll give this cradle a harder look once I can get my hands on one, but until then I'm inclined to pass. I was actually glad to see that Apple kept the same form factor of the iPhone in its latest update while at the same time upgrading the internals. But as all of us longtime Apple customers know, Apple changes it's products based on the product, not accessories.

    So things as they are, sell this for $60 and I'm in, otherwise I'll look for something else.

  1. simdude

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2004

    0
    09/25, 01:00pm | report spam | Reply |

    at&t not such a bad option now

    I was hesitant to go for the AT&T nav which is $10/month, but it doesn't look so bad now. Tom Tom would be $120 plus $100 for the software. Given it may not work with an iPhone in 2 years (or at least need updates to maps etc.), you could spend the $10/month for the AT&T GPS, always have updated maps and live traffic. That said, I haven't tried AT&T's yet so I'm not sure how good it is. Anyone else try it?

  1. macboyrules

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2000

    +3
    09/25, 01:29pm | report spam | Reply |

    What were they thinking?

    This is completely asinine. I guess they are trying not to compete with their own dedicated devices, but they really priced themselves out of the market. I mean, $220 just to have turn by turn nav for you iPhone? They should have priced the app at $49, and the combo device with app for $99. They would have hit it out of the park with that and completely dominated, plus they would have sell-through for all of the next versions, charging a $49 upgrade fee and raking it in. No long term thinking in my opinion.

  1. mozart11

    Junior Member

    Joined: Aug 2000

    +1
    09/25, 01:49pm | report spam | Reply |

    Crazy

    What world do the business execs think? What world do they live in Insane pricing. And from the look at that price $120, it looks like they want all those first buyers with that extra $20 tacked on. And in a month or two drop the price to $99. $120 is just a weird pricing.

    And I will say they will not sell many at launch. Way to expensive. This cradle should be $49. At most $59.

    Does this cradle work with the other Navigation apps sold for the iPhone? Navigon for instance? If so, than a price of $75 might be reasonable.

    I use Navigon app. It works so well. I have or had most stand alone GPS devices for the car. Garmin, Magellan, etc… And I find the iPhone Navigon App totally comparable to these.

    Tom Tom - you are Nuts Nuts with a price of $120

  1. bfalchuk

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2003

    0
    09/25, 04:05pm | report spam | Reply |

    No sale

    While I'm sure some people will buy it, they are going to miss a lot of sales, and likely drive people to Navigon or a standalone Nuvi out of anger/reaction to this absurd $220 total package pricing strategy.

    For $220, you can get a really good standalone GPS.

    Also, keep in mind that Navigon showed off their own mount. It appears to lack most of the features of the TomTom mount (GPS signal, BT, speaker), but it's not clear if it really does or doesn't. Their app is $10 less, so if they price the mount at $79 or $69 and get close to or have full feature parity, TomTom will be relegated to a corner of the market instantly. Especially since Navigon is adding features to the app at a wild pace (including free traffic!).

    By the way, I don't have the Navigon app. I had it, and got a refund from Apple when 1.0 would never get a GPS signal. I have NavCats. It's not very usable. I'm not crying because it was $6, but it's $6 basically wasted. If the TomTom mount would help NavCats, then that would be worth looking at.

    I'll have to wait and see.

  1. leonpro

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2004

    0
    09/25, 07:57pm | report spam | Reply |

    So the overall price is $220 and you need to use y

    Wow. You can buy a dedicated GPS device for that money that comes with the software and mounting kit in the box.

  1. Steve Wilkinson

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Dec 2001

    0
    09/26, 01:35am | report spam | Reply |

    Completely nuts...

    I was fairly interested in this device when it was announced, but their pricing is simply nuts. I'd maybe spend up to $150 total (device, app, and maps). I have no clue what they are thinking. Sorry, no sale here... and hopefully no one else buys at this price either.

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