TomTom want to charge £99 for a cradle for the iPhone and £59.99 for the application with Western Europe maps. That’s £160 (more than a standalone TomTom sat nav unit) for what Google is giving away for free. I really had to check to see that I had not misread the price for a piece of injection moulded plastic at £99 when it should be £9.99. Just for the record, when I get the Android 2.0 update I will be paying £30 a month for a free phone and an 18 month contract with unlimited internet, 800 texts and 600 minutes and I will have full Google voice guided navigation with just the cost of a cradle (seen on eBay for under £20). On the iPhone the closest matching tariff will cost me £184.98 for the phone, £34.26 p/m plus £160 for the TomTom kit.
In order to own an iPhone with decent sat nav I need to spend £160 on the GPS kit, £184.98 on the phone and an extra £4.26 p/m on the contract, which, minus the cradle for my G2 Touch, comes to an £401.66. I could buy the top of the line TomTom alongside my G2 Touch for less than that. This nonsense concerning the iPhone has to stop. The gross spend on this would come to £921.66.
I think it is time for someone to conduct a survey in to hallucinogenic drug use at TomTom in the sales/marketing departments.
