I'm actually very surprised that they haven't made an app for iPhone - perhaps they see it as helping the competition - with the whole iphone vs nuvifone stuff...

MaFt

Why do these guys have such a love affair with making hardware? Why can't they just focus on making great software and let us use the mobile phone we want to use? I don't want to buy Garmin's Android phone. I want to buy the Droid and USE Garmin software. They addiction to making hardware will be their downfall in my opinion.

Des Moines, IA
United States

Indeed. Garmin's hardware expertise is in GPS and associated technology and not mobile phones.

That market is cut throat and to target it like this is foolhardy in my opinion. Much better that they concentrate on offering excellent GPS software for other manufacturers handsets instead.

Darren Griffin

That seems to be the consensus opinion of most things I read. So are we all shortsighted or are they? Can you imagine the internal arguments that have to be going on at Garmin about strategic direction? What if it is just one powerful guy calling the shots and everyone else is saying what we are?

OK fair point. Appreciate Android is Linux. I 'think' I meant it made more sense to use an existing platform designed with phones in mind rather than re-engineering from the ground up.

Darren Griffin

The current nuviphone was originally Garmin's design. They took it to Asus and partnered probably because the devil was in the details and they were in over their heads. But by that point the features were set. Had the shareholders not been screaming, I don't think this particular model would ever have seen the light of day. The Droid version shouldn't have the same shortcomings since I would hope Asus took the lead on development. If it also is poorly received then I agree that Garmin should probably consider abandoning the phone hardware side. But IMO, that doesn't mean they should jump into mobile apps with both feet. Take the iPhone for example. Currently 12 different turn-by-turn nav apps. Most are very inexpensive since they've found a way to monetize location data or work advertising into the picture. Neither TomTom nor Navigon has any expertise in that area, and neither does Garmin. There's no way that the traditional navigation providers are going to be able to hold prices anywhere near the $100 range and still get more than a tiny market share. Yeah, there's still money to be made in mobile navigation, but not in the straightforward manner that the pnd companies are accustomed to. Here some of the smaller companies (and one great big one) have the advantage. They understand better how the whole game of advertising and mobile are tied together. Honestly I think Garmin has a chance to make just as much money with a phone as TomTom or Navigon will with just an app. None of the three are going to get rich doing it IMHO, without some very major changes and additions to the team. They're each out of their comfort zones.

Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.

But if Garmin don't embrace mobile apps then they could find themselves missing out on a large market?

The development costs for all hardware is significant but I suspect that of smartphones is higher still than PNDs? So its high risk and low return.

PNDs will always have their place of course but as far as Smartphones go, I don't see the option of a dedicated phone running Garmin software being as attractive to buyers as other phones where the user can choose the solution they prefer as well as access to other apps.

If they do go with Android then perhaps that will answer some of the shortcomings as users should still have access to the Android Market, perhaps Garmin may even launch the app in the Android Market?

But I fear a bigger concern may be the unrealistic pricing of apps for iPhone and Android. Sub £50 price points cannot be realistic in the long term without very high sales volumes. None of the popular solutions available here in the UK have advertising or monetised location data services yet some maintain sub £30 price points.

This will be very damaging in the long term and has possibly been precipitated by the falling prices of PNDs which are also damaging the market.

Darren Griffin

Well, here's where I think I see things going. With Google on the Droid's as the included free TBT app, and Telenav being the not-so-well-hidden provider for Sprint free included navigation, the other handset platforms will end up throwing in a free branded nav app of their own that still sets them apart from the others. WinMo and RIM won't play with Google and will roll out their own labeled nav apps included free and already in development. Symbian won't want to be on the same playground with Google either and will offer their own Navteq-based white label solution. Google's TBT app may end up on the iPhone only because Apple has no ready answer for an Apple-specific/included one yet. Once those things happen, the days of premium-priced mobile nav apps are over. Most buyers will probably just do with the manufacturer or platform-included solution and not nearly enough buyers will opt to spend significant money on a 3rd-party purchase to make it worthwhile to invest a lot of development money on rolling out improvements and upgrades, much less initial development costs. A few months ago I might have guessed at TomTom/TeleAtlas supplying a white-label nav solution to Apple, but I think the fleeting courtship may be over. Apple looks like they're in the process of developing their own mapping and location services. But the key to mobile profits for the traditional navigation players may be this: Partner with manufacturers, wireless networks or OS providers to be their de-facto nav app provider. Garmin, TomTom, Navigon, DeCarta, CoPilot and others should be positioning themselves for just that, putting away their established name-recognition/branding and instead being the "man behind the curtain". Not as glamorous, but potentially more profitable. Simply being a provider of a 3rd-party nav app is not going to be any long-term fix for what ails the pnd manufacturers. I don't see much of a future there.

Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.

There's already better gps chipsets for mobile devices and I would hope Apple takes a look at them before making another "hammerhead" move. I was actually very surprised to see them stick with the same chipset from the last generation iPhone with a newer and much better performing Infineon chip available when the 3GS was released. So much for cutting-edge design.

Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.