TomTom Updates Their App

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/10/tomtom-remembers-they-have-an-iphone-app-updates-it-with-enhanced-gps-technology/' target='_blank'>http://appadvice.com/appnn/2009/10/...gps-technology/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"I woke up this morning to what I thought was a welcoming surprise: a TomTom iPhone app update! Yes, it's true, TomTom finally realized that they still had an app sitting in the App Store just waiting to be updated with all kinds of glorious new features."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1255912005.usr105634.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>It has been a couple months since the app was released so it was certainly due for an update. However, even though they have updated the address formats and accuracy with U.S. addresses, they still haven't given it text-to-speech or real-time traffic options, two things that users wanted. I'm certainly no expert on GPS devices since I don't own one, and all I have used with GPS is the iPhone mapping with Google maps but I can understand the frustration.&nbsp;</p>

[Vincent Ferrari]

I don't understand why anyone would buy this thing. For $100, you can get a pretty good (albeit generation old) GPS from Garmin (or others)... Why in God's name would you buy an iPhone app that doesn't do as much and costs the same?

My mind boggles.

I got my Garmin 750w, which is WAY more powerful than any app on the iPhone for $149 with two chargers, a case, and a windshield mount for what, $50 more than a stupid iPhone app?

This smacks of YBIC, an old concept on Thoughts Media coined by Jason...

whY?
Because
I
Can

Rules out all practicality and common sense and has you doing things simply because you're able to, not because they make any kind of sense.

[Sven Johannsen]

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.