We were excited a few years back when TomTom indicated it would be launching an Android version of their navigation application. After all, TomTom offers slick voices for a price, and who wouldn’t want to have Yoda or Darth Vader ordering them to their destination?
Today, TomTom co-founder Peter-Frans Pauwels told Pocket-Lint that they’re still working on an Android application, and that it’d likely come sometime this summer. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of an imminent launch for TomTom, as they told us the same thing over a year ago, which itself was about a year after we learned that they were working on an Android version.
Since that time, Google has come out with Google Navigation, a free navigation feature now found commonplace in Android devices, which works beautifully when you’re connected to the internet. The question that begs asking is whether a market for TomTom still exists on Android, especially when you consider that TomTom’s iOS applications retail for at least $50, a heavy premium for a service that will soon be free on all Android devices.
Google is widely expected to announce an offline version of Google Navigation at its Google I/O conference in June, which should fill the one gaping hole that still remains in Google’s Navigation service. In just under a month, there will simply be no room in the market for a standalone Navigation application that provides offline maps, especially with a $50 price tag.
Sorry, TomTom, your Android version is too little, too late.
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