The current killer app for the iPhone would seem to be the voice-based turn-by-turn GPS system, and the most eagerly awaited is from TomTom, though there are others here and on the way.

The TomTom GPS app was much-ballyhooed at the Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference a couple of weeks ago. It is said to feature turn-by-turn directions, bi-directional voice control, and will have a car-mounting kit available which enhances both the GPS and the iPhone as automotive devices. TomTom says that the app is not yet available because the final version of the iPhone SDK was not released until the week before WWDC and there was not time to finalize it.

Still, Tom Murray, vice president of market development for TomTom, says, “We’re quite keen to get the product out there.” And there is no wonder. There is more buzz about the TomTom products that any other app right now, including games. There is a world of revenue awaiting this product, and the company wants to get it right. Murray says, “We want to make sure that the product takes advantage of the final version of the operating system, and that it’s ready for prime time.”

There has as yet been no word at all on how much the TomTom products will cost. There may or may not be a monthly subscription fee. The price of the app itself has not been leaked, and no one has any idea whether or not the car installation kit is pricy or inexpensive, or whether it will be installable by the user. In some ways, the price doesn’t matter, because it will almost certainly be considerably cheaper than buying a hardware TomTom GPS.

There are a number of similar products on the way. One, named Goviko, was released last week by Hardware in Motion, according to an MSNBC story. It is based on Yahoo maps and was priced in the App Store at 99 cents for the standard app and $9.99 for the voice-based version. There was some confusion about the difference, and Hardware in motion has been apologizing much of the week for it. There is no way to know if the pricing for Goviko in any way heralds pricing for the TomTom product.

This is a big move for TomTom. Obviously, someone who buys the iPhone app at a lower price, even with the car kit, will be paying less than they would for a TomTom GPS, cutting into corporate revenue. TomTom has said that they see the smartphone as the wave of the GPS future, and want to be in the forefront of that marketplace. And, of course, for a while they will be able to have a slice of both pies.

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Entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 3:14 pm under Commercial Software, News, iPhone, iPod Touch.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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