The clincher for me moving to iPhone from Windows Mobile was that TomTom is coming and not only that it looked like an excellent implementation as this teaser video shows.  That was a couple of months ago at WWDC (Apple’s big conference).

Today it appears that the first pre-orders are available from UK site Handtec for the special mount that provides “enhanced GPS performance, clear voice instructions, hands-free calling and in-car charging.” I have to say though that I’m totally shocked at the price, £113.85!! 

For that princely sum you get the special car cradle and the software, although it’s not quite clear yet how you go about getting the software from iTunes as this is the first peripheral hardware for iPhone that needs software and will work happily without the hardware.

Alternatives

Also launched today is iGo My Way 2009 which doesn’t have any external hardware and is available with Western Europe maps for £52.99 or £44.99 for the US maps.  Navigon MobileNavigator is also available at £52.99 for Europe and £39.99 for the US maps.

Where next

I’ve been waiting for the TomTom solution for a while, so I’m personally going to wait for the reviews.  I want to see what the verdict is about the car cradle, and if it really does add much to the navigation experience (it’s supposed to make it more accurate) if it doesn’t add much it’ll be a strait choice between 3 products all competing on almost the same features.  I’ll let everyone know how I get on.

[via iPhone Alley - RSS]