TomTom's iPhone Car Kit Shows Up Briefly on Apple's Online Store, Removed Due to Customer Complaints

Engadget is reporting that the much-awaited TomTom’s iPhone Car Kit briefly showed up on Apple’s online store in the UK with an asking price of £99.95.

Though we don’t have an official confirmation from Apple, it looks like it was removed from the online store due to complaints from iPhone users who had already bought the iPhone app.

As you might know, TomTom’s Turn-By-Turn GPS Application for the iPhone with Voice Navigation was released last month and is available on the iPhone App Store for £59.99 and it has been quite popular since its launch.

According to the FAQ section of TomTom’s iPhone Car kit, TomTom was offering the entire kit which included the car mount, the GPS signal booster and the iPhone app for £99.95.

“You get both the TomTom navigation app for your iPhone 3GS or 3G and the docking kit to hold your iPhone securely in place on your dashboard or windscreen.”

£99.95 for both the iPhone app and the car kit seems like a nice deal but it seems to have generated a lot of complaints from iPhone users who had already bought the iPhone app as they had assumed that the iPhone app and the Car kit would be sold separately.

It looks like Apple and TomTom have three options to handle this situation:

• They figure out a way to compensate iPhone users who had already bought the iPhone app.

• Say that it was a mistake and the iPhone car kit won’t include the iPhone app and sell the car kit for £99.95.

• Say it was a mistake and the iPhone car kit won’t include the iPhone app but reduce its pricing to £39.95.

Let's hope TomTom goes for option 3 as £99.95 for just the car mount and the GPS signal booster seems to be too steep and they won’t have to figure out a way to compensate iPhone users who had already bought the iPhone app.

Update:

AppleInsider reports that TomTom has opted for option 2, the hardware will cost £99.95 and will be sold separately from the TomTom iPhone app.

"TomTom announces today that the TomTom car kit for the iPhone will have a recommended retail price of £99.99. The TomTom car kit will be available this October and will be sold separately from the TomTom app."

They have also provided some more details about its compatibility:

"It will be compatible with the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS. All further details on the car kit will be made available soon."

iPhone 2G users will find this iPhone accessory even more useful as it does not have an internal GPS receiver like iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. But I wonder why it doesn't support for iPod Touch, if it can support an iPhone 2G.

Do you think TomTom's iPhone Car Kit is worth it for £99.95? Do you plan to buy it?

[via Engadget and AppleInsider]

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