Garmin made a splash last night and announced their new mobile phone. The nüvifone will feature a 3.5-inch touchscreen, internet browser, HSDPA support, Bluetooth, WiFi, camera, media player, and preloaded maps of North America and / or Europe. In addition, it houses “millions” of POIs, doles out turn-by-turn, and voice-prompted directions. Garmin has partnered with Google to integrate access to Local Search and Panoramio. But here’s the problem - the devices run Garmin’s proprietary PND OS.
As expected, there has been considerable confusion and ignorance coming from Street analysts and the media. No, this is not Garmin’s first foray into the mobile phone market (Garmin NavTalk) nor is it “the first time navigation and LBS have been put at the core of a wireless device” as an Oppenheimer note trumpeted (Nokia 6110 Navigator).
This strategy is hardly unexpected - GRMN has taken a ugly beating over the last three months because of the perceived threat of shrinking PND margins and increased competition from mobile phone manufacturers. Garmin knows they need to enter the market in a big way. But without the scale and distribution that device makers like Nokia and Samsung enjoy, does Garmin stand a chance? I think it’s likely that Apple, Nokia and HTC will eat Garmin for lunch. Keep your eyes peeled - nüvifone is expected in Q3.
Finally back and recovering from the 2008 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It’s always jarring to go straight from a nice, long holiday vacation to the CES three-ring circus. My impression of the show in one word: disappointed. Maybe the most exciting thing was that Garmin had a GPS repeater set up at their booth to get a live feed for demo devices. Or perhaps that 150″ Panasonic plasma. But isn’t this the consumer electronics show? Come on guys, that’s an ego trip, not a consumer product. And Garmin shares have fallen nearly 25% since the show began, so obviously the Street didn’t like the repeaters as much as I did. Not much new for phones either, although I liked the GPS-enabled Sony Ericsson W760. But hardly big news. Truthfully, connected devices were the theme this year. Garmin announced MSN Direct-powered PNDs like the Nuvi 780 and 880. Magellan had the Maestro Elite 5340 with Google Local Search via two-way connectivity over GPRS, but that will set you back $1300 and $40/mo. And don’t forget Dash Navigation. Last year’s big news of the show was the iPhone, but that wasn’t even at CES. So here’s some food for thought - is the CES hype too big for its own good?
This year Google has teamed up with the real Santa-tracking pros — the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). You can currently count down to the big sleigh ride on the NORAD Tracks Santa website, and starting at 1 am PST on December 24th, you’ll be able to download a special KML file that lets you follow his trip in real time through Google Earth. Check out the Official Google Blog to read the humorous story of how NORAD (and now Google) became involved in the Santa-tracking tradition that began more than 50 years ago.
And while you’re in the Santa mood, check out Wired Magazine’s side-splitting analysis of Santa’s supply chain and the $27.5 billion annual cost for Operation Christmas (warning: PDF link)
Google’s My Location has really milked the media machine this week, certainly an accomplishment for incorporating a decade-old technology into Google Maps. Sure, there’s bound to be some confusion and ignorance from writers and readers alike, but I was floored by some of the reactions. How ’bout this headline from Om Malik: With Google’s My Location, Who Needs A GPS? Gee, maybe anyone who wants to get accurate routing (navigation)? Cell-ID positioning works fine for local search (read: finding the nearest Starbucks) in densely populated areas where accuracy can be as good as 500m, but in suburbs and rural areas where cell towers are spread out, it could be closer to kilometers. Countless wireless carriers and application developers have attempted to leverage this technology with little success due to its low accuracy.
I subscribe to Minyanville’s Buzz & Banter ticker and my jaw dropped when I read a post this morning from options analyst Jon Najarian titled Google Developing Mobile Competitor to GPS: “What isn’t GOOG going to own going forward? Reports on sites like VNUnet.com say the search giant is developing a competing mobile navigation system to tap the multi-billion dollar GPS market.” Really? Apparently even the Street analysts are blinded by the Google Machine into believing that everything they announce is homegrown and/or new. Yikes.
Lest you think I’m completely sour grapes on this, using cell-ID will be a useful supplement to GPS since it works indoors, uses less battery power, and has a faster “fix” time. Same will happen with WiFi positioning. Nice feature, but please put down the Kool-Aid, everyone.
A few weeks ago HP announced two new iPAQ handsets. And it’s about time. Those tired iPAQ hw69xx units have very dated specs. Not so for the new 600 series Business Navigator and 900 series Business Messenger. Both rock Windows Mobile 6 Pro (touchscreen), HSDPA, WiFi and A-GPS. The 600 series has a numeric keypad with a scroll wheel, while the 900 series has a full QWERTY pad. Interestingly, the 900 comes with Google Maps preloaded. Very smart move, guys. Rumor has it that the 900 series is set for an AT&T launch. Documentation on HP’s site calls out the 910c (the version equipped with a 3 megapixel autofocus cam) as destined for AT&T’s airwaves, a logical move considering the device’s support for HSDPA 850 / 1900.
If you haven’t heard about the rumored Google phone (dubbed the GPhone) you either don’t work in tech or have been living in a cave. According to the WSJ Google has been in touch with phone manufacturers about the technical specifications of the GPhone. Google wants to give consumers more options and they hope multiple manufacturers will take on the job and that the phones will be offered through multiple carriers.
A Google spokesman yesterday declined to comment on a Google phone project, but noted: “We are partnering with almost all of the carriers and manufacturers to get Google search and other Google applications onto their devices and networks.”
The specs Google has come up with suggests that manufacturers include digital camera, built-in Wi-Fi, support 3G, and include GPS. If you’ve been following my commentary you’ll know that location-based services are key to Google’s revenue growth by earning higher CPMs. I don’t think they’d consider a phone without GPS.
Helio just introduced Fin, a super slim 3G phone from Samsung. With Fin, Helio debuts Garmin Mobile for voice-guided navigation. The service is now available on the Ocean handset as well. Priced at $2.99 per day, Garmin Mobile can also check weather for driving conditions and find alternate routes in the event of heavy traffic. Interesting to see that there’s currently no monthly subscription option. Which is probably a smart move - how many subs in Helio’s demographic are frequent business travelers who would need a monthly plan? Despite the buzz, Helio only has 100K subscribers, so this is just another indication of how desperate Garmin is getting on the mobile front after finding little traction with the Big 4 carriers.
And with the new HelioUP service, photos and video shot with Fin’s 3 megapixel camera can be uploaded to YouTube and Flickr directly from the phone. HelioUP is GPS-enabled so users can geo-tag photos and video with location information and other metadata. Subscribers can post geo-tagged photos from their device directly to Flickr’s World Map (flickr.com/map). This is where things start to get interesting. Navigation is getting the most attention right now, but I think social LBS (including content sharing) will be the big winner.
Last week, research company In-Stat said that U.S. cellphone owners who subscribe to phone-based navigation services will increase from 1.6 million in 2007 to 8.7 million by 2011. One reason for the projected gain is the relatively high price tags of personal navigation devices (PNDs), which retail anywhere from $200 to $600.
Future forecasts aside, In-Stat also surveyed more than 1,000 consumers and found that half would currently prefer to purchase a PND rather than subscribe to a handset navigation service. Only 17 percent said they wanted to use handset navigation, but the remaining 33 percent said they will probably use both handset navigation and a PND.
In-Stat also found that very few consumers could correctly identify whether their carrier offered handset navigation. “So the mobile carriers are really the ones that need to be promoting this and haven’t,” noted In-Stat principal analyst David Chamberlain.
I don’t have the detailed report to reference, but something’s not right here. Let’s see, $400 for a Garmin Nuvi or $10/month for Telenav on Sprint? And a full third of those surveyed said they would use both? I wonder how the responses would change if people knew about the navigation industry’s dirty little secret: free Google Maps w/GPS (running great on my Blackberry 8800). The bottom line is the lack of market awareness for handset navigation. Chamberlain is right - carriers need to do a better job of educating consumers on these services. After all, carriers are the sole distribution channel for the vast majority of LBS apps out there.
Hot on the heels of a WiMAX collaboration with Clearwire, Sprint has partnered with Google “to bring WiMAX mobile Internet customers search, interactive communications and social networking tools though a new mobile portal. The collaboration between Sprint and Google will help spur new mobility and location-assisted services as Sprint untethers Internet access for consumers, businesses and government customers.” In simple terms: a Google homepage.
Here’s the best part: “Google and Sprint will optimize the Internet experience for the digital lifestyle,” said Barry West, president, 4G Mobile Broadband for Sprint. Yeah, ’cause I love my 1s and 0s. And didn’t Google already optimize it?
Google is focusing heavily on location-based services because better targeted ads equal higher CPMs. These location-based services inevitably mean maps, and the content cost will squeeze Google’s margins as its commitment to LBS grows. I would think a Google counteroffer for Tele Atlas or an acquisition of Navteq makes sense before they head too far down this road.
Finally back and recovering from the 2008 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It’s always jarring to go straight from a nice, long holiday vacation to the CES three-ring circus. My impression of the show in one word: disappointed. Maybe the most exciting thing was that Garmin had a GPS repeater set up at their booth to get a live feed for demo devices. Or perhaps that 
If you haven’t heard about the rumored Google phone (dubbed the GPhone) you either don’t work in tech or have been living in a cave. According to the 
