About a year ago Garmin announced a new GPS-centric phone called the nuvifone that has proved to be little more than vaporware so far. Now the company says it’s closer than ever to the finish line — but it needs the help of netbook-maker Asus to cross it.
"Garmin had originally indicated that they would someday build the
phone in-house. They are now conceding defeat," says Jonathan Goldberg,
an analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities in a research note.
Garmin’s partnership with Asus would lead to a line of phones known as the Garmin-Asus nuvifone series, a slight rebranding. The duo expect to launch "several" models this year with the first to be introduced at Mobile
World Congress trade show in Barcelona later this month.
"Sharing the brand in this way will confuse consumers and dilute Garmin’s brand while boosting Asus," says Goldberg.
Garmin’s nuvifone, when it was first announced in early 2008, looked like it would be a nice addition to the swelling ranks of touchscreen phones. A 3.5-inch display, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity were all promised. But Garmin, which is a leader in selling GPS devices, also announced its intention to embed serious GPS capabilities into the phone. Then the iPhone 3G came out, with its own sophisticated, tripartite geolocation capabilities (including GPS), and the still-nonexistent nuvifone didn’t look quite so advanced any more.
Garmin initially planned to launch the device in the third quarter of 2008, but delayed it until the first quarter of this year. There have been few
public displays of the nuvifone and it was missing from the Consumer
Electronics Show last month.
Asus has been the original design manufacturer (ODM) for the Garmin nuvifone since it was announced, so the partnership isn’t exactly coming out of left field. Still, it’s an unusual choice, given that Asus has not to date been a significant player in the mobile phone market.
Emboldened by the success of its netbooks, Asus is trying to a get a foothold in the cellphone business. Asus has manufactured phones for other companies and launched a few devices in Asia. But the company has not had a blockbuster hit in its cellphones portfolio.
"By leveraging and combining our areas of
expertise at a higher level, we will be able not only to significantly
expand our product line, but also to shorten our product development
time," Min Kao, chairman and CEO of Garmin said in a statement.
But together Garmin and Asus also have some big battles to fight, says Ross Rubin, an analyst with research firm The NPD Group. "Relationships with the carriers is going to be very important for distribution," he says.
And in this troubled economy Garmin may not see as much cash coming from its GPS devices as it might have expected, which could impact its cellphone plans. "It an expensive undertaking for them to enter the cellphone market and try to steal attention from Research In Motion and Apple."
The G60’s lack of smartphone status will be another barrier, say the two analysts. Increasingly customers are looking for smartphones that allow them to use their phones as a mini-computing terminal.
The re-branded G60 device could face additional delays and is unlikely to ship this year, says Goldberg. "We do not believe the device is ready for carrier testing and is not currently undergoing certification trials," he says.
See also:
Who Dares Call Garmin’s Nuvifone an iPhone Killer?
Photo: Garmin nuvifone/Garmin
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