Garmin’s nuvifone finally gets its bearings: GPS-centric device found at AT&T Mobility … for a price

More than a year and a half after announcing plans for a cellular technology equipped device, Garmin International Inc. is finally set to enter the U.S. market with its navigation-centric nuvifone G60 scheduled to launch at AT&T Mobility on Oct. 4 for $299 after rebates and a two-year contract.
The device, which Garmin first made mention of back in Jan. 2008, sports all the latest wireless connection technologies, including quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and Wi-Fi. The device, which is manufactured by netbook computing giant Asus and runs the Linux operating system, will cater towards its navigation focus with a 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen, turn-by-turn directions using the preloaded maps and points of interests for North America as well as a dashboard and windshield mount. Access to Garmin’s premium connected services, including traffic updates, will be available for $6 per month.
The nuvifone will also sport traditional smartphone features like a 3 megapixel camera with geotagging, 4 gigabytes of embedded memory with an expandable MicroSD slot supporting up to 16 GB, MP3 capabilities and an HTML Web browser based on the Webkit platform. Text input will be through a virtual on-screen keyboard.
“The nuvifone weaves location into nearly every facet of its functionality making it ideal for people who depend on location to navigate everyday life,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “The nuvifone has Garmin’s easy-to-use interface, so navigating to a meeting directly from its calendar or contacts pages, or geotagging an email or photograph with a location stamp, is intuitive, useful and fun.”
Tough crowd
Unlike when it was first announced, the market for GPS-enabled cellular devices has exploded with most smartphones offering support for some form of navigation. AT&T Mobility recently launched its own branded navigation service – powered by Garmin rival TeleNav – for Apple Inc.’s iPhone for $10 per month. (Compatible iPhone’s are also start at $200 less than the Garmin device.) The service is also available for most of AT&T Mobility’s smartphones.
Analysts have also been lukewarm to the personal navigation device market. In-Stat recently noted that “due to the weakening economy and its impact on consumer spending, consumer demand for connected PNDs has been essentially non-existent.” However the firm added that it expects the market for GPS-enabled mobile handsets to grow 26% by 2010 and then reach nearly 700 million units by 2013.