The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

A bit of competition and choice never hurt anyone.

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Navigon is quite slow on the 3G phone. I'm not sure what it's like on the 3G S. I wonder if this TomTom app is any faster. The Navigon takes quite a long time to load the maps and the UI is quite sluggish at times.

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Lets say it cost 100,000.00 USD to develop this application. At $99.00 USD a pop, with Apple getting $29.70 (30%), they're making $69.30 for each sold App. They'll need to sell at least 1444 apps to recoup their investment!
- How much do you think this application cost to make?
- How much do you think it should cost?

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i dont think it cost them 100 000.00 usd cause they already had all the maps and all
maybe they just used the same software they were using with thier own units and modified a lil

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@ex

I genuinly think that $100,000.00 USD is a low ball number for marketing, application development, documentation, hardware and licensing costs for this application. How much do you think it cost them to announce this app at the Apple WWDC or to create the video AD on their web page? I'm sure they even have tons of pressure coming from investors that have seen TomToms stock go from a high in 2007 of $64 USD to about $8 USD. They really need to release a profitable product to survive as a relevant and profitable company. With this in mind, do you still think it cost less than 100K to make?

Official TomTom iPhone app webpage:
http://iphone.tomtom.com/

"How We Built an iPhone App for $4873.92"
http://www.gifterapp.com/blog/files/bedd9a6a1425818f49ef0645cc71044c-1.html

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A dedicated unit has less features, for a higher price.
Still, it is quite overpriced. Tom Tom is doing it because they want to offset the possible loss of income from people buying this instead of their units.
They're probably making more profit from this than their units.

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@Greg I'm sure their profit margins on this are way higher than those of their dedicated units. I don't know if they had to rewrite the software from scratch, but even if they did, it couldn't have been much for them. And I'm sure they got plenty of assistance (read: special treatment) from Apple. Beyond the map license fees (I'm assuming they don't create their own map data), the rest is gravy.

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99.00 is too much for a device that already has dynamically updating maps, connection to the contact list/address book, driving directions, etc. 29.99 is a good price.

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HAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, I guess i’m cynical… can you tell me where to buy a dedicated unit that (even with extra equipment and setup) integrates or syncs to your mobile phone or contact list, plays your whole music library, is easy to control, has traffic, POI, Map Updates, as well as your email, text messages (and with them, the ability to copy and paste addresses/phone numbers etc) IN REAL TIME from the internet, plus route your calls’ audio, your music library and pandora radio wirelessly, to your car’s (or 3rd party) bluetooth (or plug in directly), can search the internet, and CALL HANDSFREE, your destination (or anyone you want), ….. etc etc etc….
At all, for any price… Now can you give me all that in ONE device which goes in your pocket when you’re done driving? And finally, can it integrate with all the other aspects of your life (in ways just starting to be tapped in the app store)?
If you can, I will seriously throw my 4-year old macbook (running snow leopard perfectly, and faster than leopard, as well as windows 7 natively) AND my iphone (which i’m using as a wireless two-way media center remote/multi-touch trackpad as we speak to control the high definition copy of transformers that i’m watching) {whew! take a breath}, into the trash… If you can’t, well then I guess I’ll just slip the phone in my pocket, and go to the dog park, where I can remotely check up on my puppy over my macbook’s built in webcam which I can access anywhere because BackToMyMac keeps track of my dynamic IP and automatically opens ports in my (old) upnp enabled belkin router…

Oh yeah…. all of this is not just possible, but the best implementation of it’s respective class, without any weird or complicated setup, and all reliably..

So……. let me know ;)

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@jshort: Actually, the high end TomTom units can do all that. In fact, all of their units have bluetooth for the cell phone connectivity. The high-end ones can function has hands free handsets, push music to stereos, playback images and videos, etc.

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@JoshBecker: TomTom abruptly mutes the music, says its instructions, then unmutes the music again. I have not been able to tell if it is pausing the music, or just muting it. I also bought the MobileNavigator app which handles this better IMHO by lowering the music volume, and announcing over the top of the music, then raising the volume again.

Both apps allow you to control the volume of the navigation instructions, but TomTom does this better: just tap the bottom of the map and a large volume slider appears, then fades away after you adjust it. By contrast, MobileNavigator's teeny, tiny volume controller is several taps away, buried in a menu system.

I have not yet discovered how to mute MobileNavigator's voice instructions-- except to set the volume slider to its lowest setting. TomTom has a Mute menu item that's two taps away. I personally would have preferred it next to the volume slider which is only one tap away.

Both apps are a step up for me from my Garmin Nuvi in that I can finally hear the navigation instructions. The Nuvi's speaker is quite soft, while my iPhone's dock connector is hard wired into my car's sound system. Plus both the TomTom and MobileNavigator apps decrease or mute iPod volume while saying their navigation instructions.

I have not yet decided which app I like best, but I am leaning toward the TomTom for two reasons: the map interface is easier for me to read with very large type; and I prefer TomTom's menu system.

I'm glad I got both apps since they use different map databases. My thinking is that this may give me a better shot at finding locations that are missing in one or the other apps.

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It pauses the music and then re-starts it after the directions have finished. The review at iphonewzealand.co.nz tells you this.

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I wondered about that as well. They did mention during WWDC that you're able to play iPhone music while the app is up. The music will probably be using the headphone/auxiliary input on your car. The music will probably "duck" just like the 1.1 release of Navigon's app. TomTom's video demo of the car kit on their website didn't show any other outputs besides the micro?-usb charger. But what about those of us with an integrated car dock connector and no auxilary input? The TomTom car kit would block the car's access to the iPhone's music cause it would use up the dock connector. Sounds like a design flaw to me.

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I hear ya! If TomTom would've released the app the day it was announced, I would have picked it up immediately. Now that I've had time to think about it, I'd rather get a dedicated unit.
Sorry, TomTom. Too little, too late.

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Yes, Google map is free but it has terrible routing. Also, it won't reroute if you make a wrong turn or under road constructions. Constants remap your Google map while driving is not really a good idea.

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