Before Google announced Google Nav for Android, the turn-by-turn direction world was dominated by two other giants: Garmin and TomTom. While Google may have eaten into their marketshare, both companies still have a humongous user base and rightfully so. The price point on Google Nav is perfect (it’s free) but both Garmin and TomTom traditionally offer better location pinpointing and have a different set of features and unique looks that their respectively loyal fans enjoy.Those loyal TomTom fans will be happy to learn that the launch of a TomTom Android App is imminent. Company co-founder claimed a launch would come “fairly soon” but it’s his emphasis that the “summer season is important for us,” which makes me think an appearance by the end of June is likely.
TomTom already has a fairly successful iPhone app priced at $59.99, although it’s sub 4-star rating may worry some. You can expect that an Android version will have a very similar look in feel to the actual car navigation, while the on-phone navigation should (we hope) mirror Android’s style more closely.
I’m a huge fan of Google Maps/Nav. In fact, it’s probably the single Android app I use most besides GMail. Comments on the iOS app indicate the same sentiments, and point out that a recent social media integration isn’t the direction they’d like to see TomTom take given the success of Google Maps. Personally, I can’t justify spending an extra $50 bucks on TomTom for Android when Google Maps/Nav come free and work pretty darn well.
How about you?
[Via pocket-lint]
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