TomTom Navigator free on the iPhone at the end of July!

It's all happening at TomTom. According to our sources, the general consumer sat-nav specialist is currently testing different market models for iPhone versions of its TomTom Navigator software. Not really that worried that Navigon (whose software has been on sale since last weekend) has stolen a march on them, the sat-nav market leader is even apparently going to be distributing its software free towards the end of July, only charging for maps. And here too, TomTom plans to innovate by cutting prices: for example individual country maps will be under twenty pounds and North America and Western Europe will be between thirty and forty pounds, which is around half what you’ll pay for Navigon maps (currently being sold on promotion). Another innovation is that these maps will be available directly from the application and not via the Apple AppStore, this being made possible by V3 of the iPhone OS.


Still from our sources, the optional automobile pack (the price is not yet known) that was announced at the same time as the software, will have a hands-free kit, a cigarette lighter charger, a base and also… a GPS chip, the iPhone chip not being judged reliable enough by TomTom to provide sufficiently precise guidance when your vehicle is moving at high speed. This chip is likely to be built into the base but – stranger still – it will be compatible with all navigation software available on the iPhone! Imposed by Apple, this last aspect of the spec is not going down well with TomTom, who are reported to be looking into selling their own auto kit from their own website.