Apple is teaming up with developer TomTom to include navigation in the iPhone. TomTom will provide Apple with navigation software that can be downloaded through Apple’s App Store, as well as a car kit in which the iPhone can be connected, the Amsterdam-based company announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference late Monday.
Peter-Frans Pauwels, chief technology officer at TomTom, demonstrated how the navigation software works on the iPhone. TomTom’s offering includes turn-by-turn navigation software with routes and maps from Tele Atlas as well as the car kit, which comes with enhanced GPS, voice instructions, and hands-free calling.
Executives said the application will be available once Apple releases iPhone OS 3.0. Pricing and availability haven’t yet been announced, although TomTom said they will be announced before the product’s launch later this summer.
Whether the software and car kit will be compatible with Apple’s newly announced iPhone 3GS is unknown. The iPhone 3GS is two times faster than the 3G and includes a digital compass that allows users to view a list of turn-by-turn directions. TomTom’s application will give users turn-by-turn car navigation.
Making its navigation software available through the App Store and rolling out a car kit was a strategic move for TomTom as the smartphone market has continued to thrive despite a crumbling economy.
In the fourth quarter, worldwide sales of smartphones reached 38.1 million, an increase of 3.7 percent from the same quarter in 2007, according to Gartner. Global sales of smartphones for the year reached 139.3 million, up 13.9 percent from 2007.
That growth is expected to continue, according to NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin, who said smartphones, which represented 17 percent of handset sales in the first quarter of 2008, now are at 23 percent.
TomTom’s roots are actually in developing software for other companies’ devices, and it…