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TomTom's iPhone Car Kit Does A Vanishing Act (Again!)
Article by: maft
Date: 24 Sep 2009
 Early this morning Twitter exploded (OK, so a slight exaggeration) with news of TomTom's iPhone Car Kit finally being available via the UK Apple Store. In fact a lot of GPS, TomTom and iPhone related sites posted the news story almost straight away. We were a little reluctant to post the news straight away as a search in the Apple Store did not bring up the item. On returning to the page it has now vanished, completely, from the Apple Store. One can only assume that it was leaked out a little too early!
The product page for the Car Kit didn't give much more detail about the device that we didn't already know (internal speaker, internal GPS, 3.5mm audio out, handsfree calling, built in charger) but it did have a price. £99.95 (free delivery) for the UK. The page also hinted that this price included the TomTom Navigation App but so little was mentioned about this and with a lack of voucher codes in the UK App Store PocketGPSWorld.com believe this is not the case. If it WAS included then that would value the mount at £30, which we doubt very much! And what about those who already forked out for the App?
We can but wait (again) for another official release of the Car Kit and, hopefully, some clarification on whether or not the App is included and, if it is, then how! Click here for the non-existent product page.
| Comments
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 Posted by zebsogo on Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:19 pm |
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For £100 the App better be included. for that price you could buy yourself a stand alone SatNav with mount included ( ok mount does not have gps) but still for £100 it is another over priced Tomtom product
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Navigon 92 Premium Live,TomTom Go 6000,Garmin 2699 LTM-D and a TomTom Go 1005 Live ( For the wife )
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| Posted by NickG on Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:12 pm |
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£100?! I think I'll just buy a TomTom One and then tie my iPhone to the mount using elastic bands and throw the actual TomTom One in the bin. It's cheaper! They've already got the most expensive navigation app in the app store and it pretty much *requires* the mount to work.
Do they not realise that people want to run satnav on their iPhone to save money (ie they've already bought all the hardware - it should work out cheaper). I think an awful lot of people who've bought the app, on the assumption the mount would be about £40 will be extremely disappointed!
Twitter: @nickg_uk |
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| Posted by bedbug on Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:23 pm |
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See here for TomTom's clarification - £99.95 buys just the cradle, despite the error made earlier on AppleStore pages throughout Europe. Anybody manage to place a pre-order before the cradle and application bundle was pulled?
iPhone 4/4S (iOS 5.1.1); TomTom Western Europe (1.10)/USA & Canada (1.10); CoPilot for iPhone (8), UK mapping, Mac OS 10.8/XP Pro/Win7; Tongue firmly in cheek! |
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| Posted by gatorguy6996 on Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:39 pm |
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I know of at least one person that did. Of no matter tho as his receipt states it's for the mount only, no app included.
Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr. |
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| Posted by mikealder on Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:54 pm |
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This is really in reply to a post on the other (now locked thread)
| bedbug Wrote: | | mikealder Wrote: | | I will stick with the Brodit active mount and the iO-Play for amplified sound through the car speakers, at £100 someone is having a laugh! even though its not a funny joke - Mike |
I don't disagree with you Mike, though it's only fair to point out that I've just been googling and the Brodit is around £44, the io £64, making the combo £8 more than the TomTom solution before you factor in the cost of fitting etc. I know they're not like for like in comparison terms, but for those looking for a new solution, the TT mount isn't ridiculous given the specs.
The problem TomTom chose to ignore is that they were over-engineering a solution and failing to make it cost effective (might that be more a reflection of Apple's aspirations than TomTom themselves?). And in bringing the cradle to market they've implied the iPhone's integral GPS capabilities are inefficient to boot (which can't be pleasing to Apple, despite being a fairly honest appraisal - unless of course Apple wanted a way to address criticism?).
TomTom have, at a combined price of £159.94, produced a nicely mounted, robust but highly under-featured navigation system. If they're smart, the delay in cradle introduction will enable them to coincide the release with an update to the app. that delivers all the missing functionality, though I'd hate to imagine the total cost of ownership if/when they introduce live service subscriptions! |
The big difference I get with the iO-Play is the ability to have the sound through the car speakers as well as the phone calls and music from the phone or TomTom PND depending upon which devices I have in the car at any one time.
The quality and reliability this kit offers is great, with respect to the poor GPS performance of the Apple iPhone I would like to see them add the serial port profile to the phone so we have the option to use a Bluetooth receiver rather than being forced to use a mount that costs a fortune. At the end of the day Apple have sold a substandard device when it comes to GPS reception, its on a par with receivers I was using 4 years ago, any modern phone with integral GPS capability will easily outperform this device, I accept it works, but I also know its not very good when compared to what is available.
You are quite right when you say this is costly, combine the application and the mount from TomTom and its far from cheap, I would even go as far as to question the value for money this solution offers - You over rate the TomTom iPhone application when you say its basic, its not that good when compared to the competition IMHO - Mike
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| Posted by darrengsaw on Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:34 pm |
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This makes no sense whatsoever, it has poor functionality and a ridiculous price.
If you want a really basic application I believe amaze are bringing out an iphone version quite soon, this is free.
I just cant see why anyone would spend that much on such a poorly performing device. Is it likely anyone would be tempted to through a decent TT, Garmin, Navigon or any other device just to save carrying two devices??
I know iphone owners are often rather showoffy, but that is a lot of money on a vanity program IMHO.
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| Posted by MaFt on Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:43 am |
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| darrengsaw Wrote: | | This makes no sense whatsoever, it has poor functionality and a ridiculous price. |
indeed! complete rip-off. so is the navigation app. copilot, navigon and sygic are far better, igo is a good runner. copilot is also far cheaper (navigon is too at the moment but that's for a special offer)
| darrengsaw Wrote: | | If you want a really basic application I believe amaze are bringing out an iphone version quite soon, this is free. |
is it onboard or offboard mapping?
| darrengsaw Wrote: | | I just cant see why anyone would spend that much on such a poorly performing device. Is it likely anyone would be tempted to through a decent TT, Garmin, Navigon or any other device just to save carrying two devices?? |
i think the iphone navigation market is aimed primarily at those users who do not have a standalone satnav. costwise it makes little sense to 'switch' to an iphone and nav app from a standalone device BUT for a vanilla iphone user having satnav on the phone is a nice addition/feature. i know winmob has had satnav for aaaaaages but winmob devices are a bit more of a niche/geek market - the iphone is a regular phone with some extra features - a totally different market from smartphones and pda's.
| darrengsaw Wrote: | | I know iphone owners are often rather showoffy, but that is a lot of money on a vanity program IMHO. |
i wouldn't say i'm showoffy. far from it really!
MaFt
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| Posted by SpeedCam on Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:38 pm |
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I wouldn't worry about the cost, the release date has already slipped and I'd be most surprised if it appears before christmas when competition will be at a high. If the mount is released.... it will be discounted by at least £20 within two months, but this product maybe shelved like the HD Traffic receiver.
Speedcam
Model : HTC HD2, HTC Magic, iPhone 3g, GO 740, XL GO Live |
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