Really turn-by-turn navigation from TomTom for the iPhone? Really? Yep, really. Yesterday TomTom announced two new upcoming products for the iPhone. First is a dedicated navigation application which will soon be available in the App Store. It’ll include TomTom’s IQ Routes and Tele Atlas maps. Second, and pretty interesting from a PND maker, is a TomTom car kit for the iPhone. It will include a special docker, voice directions, hands-free calling over Bluetooth and in-car charging.
It’s about time. There has been rumor of a TomTom GPS app for the iPhone since last July when the iPhone 3G was released. While some sort of development restriction hampered the app’s time to market, the company did say it would eventually release an iPhone app. Things were pretty quiet for awhile, until last month when TomTom posted a job advertisement for an iPhone developer. I never thought that the company would pursue what seems to amount to an all-out partnership with Apple. It’s a smart move.
We’ll have to wait for pricing and availability details until later this summer after the iPhone 3.0 OS is officially released. But for iPhone owners out there, the complete package will probably be a more economical (in price and hardware) solution to in-car navigation than a traditional PND.