“I had a chance recently to chat with Tom Murray, vice president of market development at TomTom Inc., about the anticipated app and the company’s iPhone car kit,” Michelle Maltais reports for The Los Angeles Times.

“First things first: No, TomTom hasn’t announced pricing or an expected launch date for the app,” Maltais reports.

Here’s what Murray highlighted about what the app will have:
• the TomTom user interface
• the latest version of Tele Atlas maps for North America and Europe, initially
• IQ Routes, which calculates the fastest route based on data collected over the years from other TomTom users.
• turn-by-turn directions
• voice-guided navigation

Maltais reports, “Murray wasn’t able to confirm whether the app would include Map Share, which lets users make and get map corrections from other users of the feature. Users may purchase additional locations, he said, but the logistics of that were still being worked out.”

“Users also will be able to tap into their iPhone contacts from within the app, allowing them to select a destination or starting point from a contact’s entry. TomTom for iPhone takes advantage of the device’s multitouch gestures to navigate within the maps, as well,” Maltais reports. “The app will be available for purchase ‘later this summer.’”

“The app can work with or without the kit. Both app and kit accommodate portrait and landscape mode,” Maltais reports. “The kit comes with the standard suction cup and dashboard mounts users would expect from a navigational device. As Murray described the car kit, ‘but wait, there’s more’ seemed to be the unspoken refrain”

Some of the other features include:
• built-in speaker
• enhanced audio — the better to hear the directions with
• microphone and Bluetooth speaker for hands-free calling
• auxilliary output for connecting to and playing music through a car stereo
• adapter to power both the car kit and the iPhone (and you’re wondering why you’d need to power the kit…)
• GPS receiver to enhance reception

Maltais reports, “Murray said the GPS receiver built into the mount helps boost the iPhone’s internal GPS, particularly when you’re driving near tall buildings and other obstacles. The TomTom app uses this receiver when your iPhone is in the car kit.”

Maltais reports, “A theoretical possibility — and one Murray said TomTom is exploring — with this kit’s built-in GPS receiver is that it could potentially turn a 2G iPhone or an iPod Touch into a GPS device.”

There’s more in the full article here.