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TomTom for iPhone

Update: You always have to wonder when the report doesn’t mention just “who” at TomTom they were quoting, but we seem to have more info now. There are now reports attributing the following quote to Annette Hendrickx who said this about running TomTom on the iPhone:

“We have tried, and it worked”

Yep, just coming out a few minutes ago, TomTom has (apparently) announced plans to release a version of their TomTom navigation software for the iPhone. They plan to start selling it for the new 3G iPhone, on the AppStore.

According to reuters, a TomTom spokesman said the following, but didn’t say when it would be available or if it would be available when the iPhone 3G hits the streets on July 11.

Our navigation system runs on the iPhone already

source

We shall see what really happens there. This doesn’t scream of an official announcement by any means, but it certainly would be welcome by many future iPhone owners.

7 Comments

  1. Don’t suppose there is any information about a Symbian or WM version?

    Luke - June 11th, 2008
  2. It appears that Apple’s licensing agreement will specifically ban 3rd party navigation apps from using the IPhones 3G connectivity. Seems that would apply to any plans TomTom might have for the IPhone.

    Gatorguy - June 11th, 2008
  3. I don’t think it is quite as black and white as that, gatorguy. Apple has licenses with companies like Google for their Maps program, Youtube, Yahoo for stock and weather data, etc. The license restrictions that those companies impose on Apple for how they use those apps are therefore passed back along to SDK developers.

    The statement in the SDK about navigation apps is exactly, word for word, the license for Google Maps.

    Therefore I think we can expect that the statement in the SDK terms is referring to how people use the Google Maps data. That then would have no impact on people building their own navigation applications provided they don’t rely on any of the Google Maps functionality that exists on the iPhone and “bring your own data” so to speak.

    If on the other hand (and I don’t believe this is the case) it is Apple’s intention to restrict turn-by-turn application then that says to me that Apple already has a partner signed up to provide that service.

    Either case doesn’t rule out TomTom building an application. In addition, Nav-N-Go and Wayfinder have also said that they are working on navigation applications for the iPhone. So I’m pretty convinced it will happen– from somewhere.

    Tim - June 11th, 2008
  4. This quote just came in via Wired from a TomTom PR person.

    All I can say is that we have tested and successfully run our navigation software on the iPhone and it looks good and works well. We’ll have to look more closely to Apple’s strategy before we can say more about what kind of opportunities this will bring us. . . Apple is developing pedestrian navigation demand, which we see as complementary to the already developed demand for dedicated car navigation solutions. With more and more people getting acquainted with navigation, this will also further grow the demand for car navigation.

    Tim - June 11th, 2008
  5. If this is true and TomTom does indeed release navigation software for the iPhone, I will be first in line to buy it!

    Paul - June 12th, 2008
  6. Another interesting interview here.

    Tim - June 13th, 2008
  7. From Tele Atlas today, founder Alain De Taeye said this to Reuters:

    De Taeye said he expected real-time, turn-by-turn navigation applications to be available for Apple’s iPhone despite reports that Apple’s rules for developing iPhone software appeared not to allow it.

    “We are making sure that navigation is an application that is allowed,” De Taeye said. “If there is any restriction on the platform, that indeed has to do with the restrictions that we have in our contracts. Navigation is allowed, provided that the right fees are paid.”

    Tim - June 30th, 2008

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