Well, Vincent. Why do people spend up to a $1000 on equipment, pay for a license, get up at Oh dark thirty, and drive a hundred miles, just to stand hip deep in frigid water, to catch a trout? I can just go to a store and buy one, or better still, Red Lobster will cook one and bring it to my table.
For me it's kind of a hobby, but I don't expect TomTom is basing their hopes on the hobbiest market.
I'll agree $100 is kinda steep, for what it does, but there is something to be said for cutting down the quantity of things to bring travelling. I already bring the phone and its chargers, adding a GPS and its stuff just doubles the volume. One silly rationalization is that when I park a rental car, I might be tempted to leave the GPS in it for a short time, inviting theft, while I would certainly take the phone with me. Nobody ever had there car broken into for a accessry charger alone
TomTom isn't the only option either. There are Navigon and CoPilot as alternatives, both of which have text to speech (though neither did at launch), and they are cheaper. CoPilot is in fact only $35, and it will do the job, though not as polished as Navigon IMHO. TomTom has the name recognition though, so I guess they feel they can charge more for less. Well see how that works out for them.