Garmin and TomTom cling to profits, hope

As everyone knows, Garmin and TomTom have their backs against the ropes in a fight to remain relevant in an age of free GPS turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones (thanks Google and Nokia). While dedicated personal navigators are almost always superior to their converged competition, the gap has certainly narrowed such that it’s become difficult to justify another device when an increasing number of people already carry a fine navigation device in their pockets. But that’s just gut instinct talking, where’s the hard evidence? Certainly not speculative stock prices. A good place to start is in forward-looking financial statements like the one Garmin, the leading navigation device maker in the US, just issued. Gamin says that it expects competition to cause prices to decline by about 10% in the personal navigation device (PND) industry putting pressure on margins, and thus profits, in 2010. It also see flat or slightly declining revenue over the same period. Fortunately for Garmin, it has a diversified product offering that includes the Nuvifone. However, so far Garmin admits to being disappointed by sales of the handset that “won” our Editor’s Choice award for Worst Gadget of the Year.

Things aren’t all doom and gloom, though. Garmin has a pair of Nuvifones in the chute including the Android-powered A50. And its Q4 results of $1.43 per share easily beat analyst expectations of 95 cents a share. Even TomTom surprised many last week with a 1% increase in Q4 revenue and net profit of €75 million compared to a €989 million loss a year ago. So there’s some hope left for the dedicated PND market… but not much.

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS

Garmin and TomTom cling to profits, hope originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FT (TomTom), Reuters (Garmin)  | Email this | Comments

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 and A50 hands-on

So, we had a few precious moments to play around with Garmin-Asus’ latest Nuvifones here in lovely Barcelona today — the M10 and A50, running on Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and Android 1.6, respectively — and even better, we did so in the back of a black Mercedes expressly purposed for testing out the integrated turn-by-turn capabilities. Follow the break for our quick impressions!

Continue reading Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 and A50 hands-on

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 and A50 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M10 gets handled, reviewed in the wilds of Russia

We just heard about Garmin-Asus’ WinMo 6.5.3-packin’ M10 yesterday, and already the handset has been broken out for a photo shoot and hands-on review in Russia. The design itself isn’t anything otherworldly, but we have to say — we’re kind of digging the user interface. Granted, we’ve a soft spot in our hearts for Garmin’s nuvi line of PNDs, so anything remotely familiar gets a big thumbs-up ’round these parts. At any rate, critics noted that the phone was a pleasant mix of WinMo and nuvi, which is something that really sets it apart from other Windows Mobile-based offerings. There’s nary a mention of exactly how awesome this thing would be with Windows Mobile 7, but if you’re in no hurry to ponder the next big thing, give that source link a look.

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M10 gets handled, reviewed in the wilds of Russia originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Hi-Tech  | Email this | Comments

Nazomi Communications makes friends by suing everyone you know

When the Java programming language burst onto the scene in the mid-’90s, the mantra was “write once, run anywhere.” Any Java coder will tell you that dream never quite became a reality, and while plenty have worked on ways to make Java code run like instructions specialized for this or the other family of processors, Nazomi Communications wants there to be only one: its way. The company was founded in the late ’90s by Sun expatriates and created some processors capable of running compiled Java code natively. Now its biggest production is a lawsuit against Amazon, Microsoft, Nokia, Garmin, Sling, and others for patent infringement. Exactly which patent hasn’t been made clear at this point, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s 6,332,215, the same one the company referenced when suing ARM back in 2007. Nazomi lost that suit (plus a subsequent appeal) and, given how much we dislike these annoying patent disputes from tiny, seemingly struggling companies (Nazomi currently has four whole employees according to LinkedIn), we’re hopeful that all these lawsuits go away soon too.

Nazomi Communications makes friends by suing everyone you know originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BusinessWeek  | Email this | Comments

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M10 offers Windows Mobile 6.5.3 with an obsession for navigation

Garmin-Asus phones, they’re like buses aren’t they — you wait for ages to get one, then two come along at the same time. Seeking to sate as many mobile OS appetites as possible, the partner company has quickly followed up its A50 Android handset with this here M10, sporting Microsoft’s latest Windows Mobile build. As only the second WinMo 6.5.3 device around, the M10 is as up to date as you can get on the software front, though earlier word of a slightly dated 600MHz Qualcomm MSM 7227 CPU will douse some enthusiasm on the hardware side. Then again, Garmin-Asus do furnish you with 512MB of both RAM and ROM and a decent 4GB of integrated storage, so it’s not like this is going to be a slouch or anything, and the 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen should also do a nice job of displaying the built-in turn-by-turn navigation. Location awareness is said to be ingrained in everything the phone does, with navigation functions attached to the calendar, web browser, messaging and email clients. Launch is slated for the first half of 2010, and you can quite naturally expect us to get all up close and personal with this handset at MWC next week.

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M10 offers Windows Mobile 6.5.3 with an obsession for navigation originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Business Wire  | Email this | Comments

Garmin-Asus nuvifone A50 runs Android, knows where you are turn-by-turn

The long rumored Nuvifone jump to Android is here just as we get set to kick off Mobile World Congress next week. Garmin and ASUS claim that the A50 brings “more location technology than any other smartphone” with a plethora of location-aware apps making use of a highly sensitive (though unnamed) GPS receiver. Spec-wise, the A50 packs a 3.5-inch HVGA (that’s 480×320 pixels, presumably) capacitive touchscreen with custom, finger-friendly UI, 4GB of internal storage with microSD expansion, and accelerometer for the usual portrait to landscape mode flip. The A50 uses satellite, network-based, and terrestrial sources to quickly zero in on your location and comes pre-loaded with Garmin turn-by-turn navigation, lane assist with junction view, and maps — no need to download them over the network (and risk data dead spots), eh Google. In fact, it’s ready for in-vehicle (ships with car mount and vehicle power cable) or pedestrian navigation out of the box. The A50 also brings on-device sync with Microsoft Exchange server and includes all the usual Google mobile services like search by voice, Maps with Street View, Gmail, YouTube, and Android Market. Rounding things out are a multitouch WebKit-based browser and 3 megapixel autofocus camera that automatically geo-tags your snaps. The A50 will launch in Europe in the first half of 2010 though pricing has not been announced. We’re still digging for more specs but will definitely be back with a detailed hands-on from Barcelona next week.

Update: We have an insider telling us that the device runs Android 1.6 (something we’ve seen before) and uses Qualcomm’s gpsOne platform for SatNav. Makes sense, but we won’t be able to confirm until we meet with Garmin-Asus next week at MWC.

Garmin-Asus nuvifone A50 runs Android, knows where you are turn-by-turn originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BusinessWire  | Email this | Comments

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 emerges on Taiwanese pre-order page

It was only yesterday that we heard of this WinMo 6.5.3 beastie, and already Taiwanese ladies and gents can sign up to own one, pending a February 6 delivery. The new pre-order page confirms our earlier indications of a 3.5-inch WVGA display and 5 megapixel camera, while adding the knowledge of 512MB of both RAM and ROM, plus MicroSD storage expandability. A relatively low end Qualcomm MSM 7227 600MHz CPU drives the show here, and we’re told a spare battery (1,500mAh by default) or a car holder for navigation also come as part of the 13,900 TWD ($435) package. So, are you excited or what?

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 emerges on Taiwanese pre-order page originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashPhone  |  ASUS Taiwan  | Email this | Comments

Garmin-Asus taking wraps off first Android gear, M10 WinMo phone at MWC

It might be happening a little later than they’d originally hoped, but Garmin — through its partnership in Garmin-Asus — should finally be unveiling some Android-based phones pretty shortly in an effort to kickstart the firm’s weak showing thus far in the dog-eat-dog handset world. The VP of the mobile device business over at ASUS is talking up the joint venture’s 2010 plans this week, saying that it’ll show its first Android product at MWC next month with the hope of striking a pretty even balance between Android and WinMo shipments in the long term (no mention of the G60’s proprietary platform, interestingly). What’s more, they want to push a solid million units this year, and they’ll be looking to reach that goal by building somewhere between 4 and 5 models — at least one of which is likely destined for T-Mobile USA, as far as we can tell. Android isn’t the only thing on the docket for these guys at MWC, though: they’ll also be showing the M10, allegedly running Windows Mobile 6.5.3 with a 3.5-inch resistive display and a 5 megapixel camera with a retail price a little over $400. Finally, there are plans in the works for a TD-SCDMA phone for China Mobile that’d be available toward the tail end of the year — so all things considered, these guys might finally have a shot of making a dent in the market for once.

Garmin-Asus taking wraps off first Android gear, M10 WinMo phone at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DigiTimes  |  ZDNet Taiwan  | Email this | Comments

Garmin introduces Zumo 220, $600 navigation for vaguely budget-conscious two-wheeled hooligans

When we got wind of Garmin’s Zumo 665, the new navigation system for folks who like to do it in leathers, we were quite excited to learn about its integrated A2DP and other new features — but totally lost interest when we saw the $999 MSRP. You can get a perfectly serviceable UJM starter bike for that kind of cash! Garmin is now addressing the situation with the Zumo 220, which “scales down size and price of motorcycle navigation” — to $599. Yes, still pricey, but you get most of the features of the bigger brother, including Bluetooth compatibility (though seemingly not A2DP), waterproof construction, and text-to-speech guidance. It sports a 3.5-inch touchscreen and of course comes with a bike mount, but also has a car mount for those days when weather prohibits riding in to work — or when you just don’t feel like getting all your gear on. Look for it to ship sometime before the quarter is up.

Garmin introduces Zumo 220, $600 navigation for vaguely budget-conscious two-wheeled hooligans originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink BusinessWire  |  Garmin  | Email this | Comments

Delorme’s Earthmate PN-60w gets Spot compatibility, can beam your tweets into space

Delorme’s Earthmate PN-60w gets Spot compatibility, can beam your tweets into space originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PCWorld  | Email this | Comments

• Recent Posts

  • Novothink rolls out Solar Surge iPhone / iPod touch charging case
  • Barnes & Noble promises B&N eReader app for iPad near launch
  • Dolby issues Axon SDK to bring surround sound to online console / Mac gamers
  • Sony’s ultra-compact concept camera gets slightly less mysterious
  • OpenGL 4.0 arrives, brings more opportunities for general purpose GPU action
  • Huawei announces SmaKit S7 Android tablet
  • T-Mobile webConnect Rocket available March 14, already blowing minds in Philly
  • $92 MD500 Android tablet from Hott actually looks pretty cool
  • Opera Mini 5 on Android mini review
  • TiVo returning to the UK thanks to partnership with Virgin Media

• Categories

  • Uncategorized

• Archives

  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009

• Blogroll

  • Development Blog
  • Documentation
  • Engadget - Engadget
  • - PK with PHP!
  • - PK with PHP!
  • Plugins
  • Suggest Ideas
  • Support Forum
  • Themes
  • WordPress Planet

• Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS

Installed by SimpleScripts