TomTom launches $100 GPS app for iPhone

Computerworld - GPS navigation device maker TomTom International released its first iPhone application today, making good on a June promise when an executive touted the software at Apple's annual developers conference.

The $99.99 turn-by-turn navigation software for the U.S. and Canada was posted to the App Store on Apple's iTunes earlier Monday. Other versions with maps for Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe were also launched today at prices ranging from $79.99 to $139.99.

In June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Peter-Frans Pauwels, TomTom's co-founder and chief technology officer, demonstrated the application as one of several that would take advantage of the new iPhone 3.0 software, which was released later that month, shortly before Apple launched the iPhone 3GS.

The application includes features typically found on stand-alone GPS navigational devices, such as voice directions, flexible trip routing and points of interest. It also integrates with the iPhone's address book to provide directions to any contact's physical location.

Although TomTom said two months ago that it would also sell a "car kit" that would include the application as well as a cradle to hold the iPhone for affixing to the dash or windshield, today a company spokesman said that the kit isn't yet ready.

"We'll have more to announce when we're ready to ship [the car kit] at the end of the summer," said TomTom spokesman Kevin Carter today. He confirmed that the kit would ship before the end of this month, but declined to name the price for the bundle.

The car kit will also include a charger and add hands-free calling to the iPhone.

TomTom's iPhone application can be downloaded from Apple's App Store.

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