Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
TomTom Car Kit Release Pushed Back to October
- Thread starter Maverickster
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
MacRumors
macrumors bot
TomTom Car Kit Release Pushed Back to October
TomTom's FAQ for its iPhone navigation app now notes that the anxiously-awaited Car Kit will not be released until October:
This update to the FAQ comes surprisingly close to the kit's run through the FCC for approval just last week. The FCC's site shows internal and external photos of the car kit along with the user guide.
According to previous reports, the Car Kit's GPS capability will allow it to work with the iPod touch and other 3rd-party GPS applications. No information has been released yet on the kit's final pricing.
Article Link: TomTom Car Kit Release Pushed Back to October
TomTom's FAQ for its iPhone navigation app now notes that the anxiously-awaited Car Kit will not be released until October:
This update to the FAQ comes surprisingly close to the kit's run through the FCC for approval just last week. The FCC's site shows internal and external photos of the car kit along with the user guide.
According to previous reports, the Car Kit's GPS capability will allow it to work with the iPod touch and other 3rd-party GPS applications. No information has been released yet on the kit's final pricing.
Article Link: TomTom Car Kit Release Pushed Back to October
Explanation
They apply the same brillant strategy as for the application : announce, then delay and let Navigon be the 1st. 😀
They apply the same brillant strategy as for the application : announce, then delay and let Navigon be the 1st. 😀
Ugh... at least tell us how much it's going to cost so I can decide if I want to buy the TomTom app... If I buy the app, I'll want the car kit too... 😕
This is getting ridiculous. Admittedly I love TomTom as it is and it works well, but I want to at least know how much it will cost when it does finally come out.
TomTom could have really made a killing with this, had they come out with this in a dock + app kit right around the time of the 3GS launch. For maybe $100-150. By now though, everybody has kind of moved on, and it will be more of a niche product. You snooze, you lose, TomTom.
iSee
macrumors 68040
This doesn't surprise me...
For a while this has been smelling like a development project in trouble.
I would be wary of buying this when it finally does come out. Sometimes, when a high-profile, prematurely announced product falls behind schedule it means that:
1. Significant unanticipated problems have cropped up, indicating that there are fundamental flaws in the requirements or design of the product.
2. As management becomes ever more desperate to release the product, hacks, kludges and duct tape are applied in large quantities in an attempt to hide the problems arising from the fundamental flaws.
In the end you get a buggy product that only kind-of works and has many annoying issues -- or even fatal flaws.
Of course, sometimes there's no fundamental problem -- it's just that some step took longer than anticipated. But I would wait for in-depth reviews before buying.
For a while this has been smelling like a development project in trouble.
I would be wary of buying this when it finally does come out. Sometimes, when a high-profile, prematurely announced product falls behind schedule it means that:
1. Significant unanticipated problems have cropped up, indicating that there are fundamental flaws in the requirements or design of the product.
2. As management becomes ever more desperate to release the product, hacks, kludges and duct tape are applied in large quantities in an attempt to hide the problems arising from the fundamental flaws.
In the end you get a buggy product that only kind-of works and has many annoying issues -- or even fatal flaws.
Of course, sometimes there's no fundamental problem -- it's just that some step took longer than anticipated. But I would wait for in-depth reviews before buying.
co.ag.2005
macrumors 68020
+1 Griffin WindowSeat is awesome!
Plus I don't need the speaker of the TomTom kit anyway because I turn off voice turn by turn... too annoying IMO
Griffin doesnt have the added gps in it which seems like the main point of the tomtom kit
I feel TomTom completely missed the golden opportunity. The NA app is currently not much better than an early beta and, not only did they not offer the cradle they are delaying it even more now.. Sad, I had so much respect for TomTom before, now Navigon has it.
wackymacky
macrumors 68000
Ummm.
They get to go along to the 3.0 OS WWDC to promote thier goods and now they're the last cab off the rank releasing.
Pretty crap on thier part.
They get to go along to the 3.0 OS WWDC to promote thier goods and now they're the last cab off the rank releasing.
Pretty crap on thier part.
Randman
macrumors 65816
Shasterball
Suspended
have to agree with you on this one as well you generally dont go and say "look at how awesome we are" then let so many others beat you to the punch on releasing software and then postpone your hardware past your already FAR FAR away release date of summer
Now i know why i have never bought a tomtom product before and why i probably will not buy one now unless they issue it wtih a strong discount and a appology for SUCKING! 😱
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)
I bought the TomTom App right away, it is okay - not great. I'm so disappointed with this delay fir the car kit I'd return the App if I could!
TomTom really missed a golden opportunity with the iPhone.
I bought the TomTom App right away, it is okay - not great. I'm so disappointed with this delay fir the car kit I'd return the App if I could!
TomTom really missed a golden opportunity with the iPhone.
blow it
And you just KNOW they will blow it even further by slapping a silly price on it! They surely won't go too overboard with the price as they have now lost a huge amount of early customers who have now gone elsewhere, they HAVE to market it cheaply or they might as well pack up and go home. I'll get it for sure at the right price, anything above $100nz (about 70$US) and I'll go elsewhere.
And you just KNOW they will blow it even further by slapping a silly price on it! They surely won't go too overboard with the price as they have now lost a huge amount of early customers who have now gone elsewhere, they HAVE to market it cheaply or they might as well pack up and go home. I'll get it for sure at the right price, anything above $100nz (about 70$US) and I'll go elsewhere.
ChromeAce
macrumors 6502a
TomTom probably read my criticism on this site about how silly the cradle design is (by requiring a Bluetooth connection from the phone to the cradle even though it already sits INSIDE the cradle) and are trying to fix it before production. On the other hand, it's probably too late for that.