http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/ Engadget Comments for Garmin and TomTom cling to profits, hope http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Yea, they kinda are... ]]>Feb 25th 2010 2:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
I'll take my Garmin 785T (free traffic) any day over any smartphone.

Smartphone GPS is great for the occasional use but does not cut it for medium to heavy usage.]]>Feb 25th 2010 2:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 2:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 2:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Yet...
Verizon ATT and T-mobile all have GPS Capable (notice capable is not the same as enabled) available free (albeit with data plan contracts for at least 2 months). I suspect GPS/3G will become as common texting in the not too distant future.

Not to revive dead ideas, but I love in-dash style systems, like what MSFT/Ford tried to do/ is trying to do with that Fusion thing. I think the interface so far has been pretty poor, but the idea is really interesting to me!]]>Feb 25th 2010 3:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 7:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Point being: that for the price of a standalone GPS, you could buy a smartphone that HAS a standalone GPS..]]>Feb 25th 2010 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
? what?

you can buy a GPS for like 100 dollars, smart phones cost 600-800 unlocked.]]>Mar 10th 2010 4:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 3:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Agreed, pretty sad use of his work. I suppose this piece does reflect the feelings of some of these CEO's though.]]>Feb 25th 2010 7:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10452709-48.html?tag=mncol;posts]]>Feb 25th 2010 3:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 3:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 3:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 3:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Banksy. Google it.]]>Feb 25th 2010 4:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Its one of my shots that Engadget stole: http://friskypics.com/index.php?showimage=90]]>Feb 25th 2010 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Hmmm... looks like you won, bud.]]>Feb 26th 2010 9:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 3:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Also, they should learn from many companies that try to enter this market and one's trying to reinvent themselves (Palm)- DON'T enter the cell phone market half assed!! The first nuvifone came out sub par internals, a crappy OS, ugly look AND a high price. It was laughable! Did they not hire anyone with a gadget geek mindframe?? Anyone who regularly reads this site could have saved them time, humiliation, and money. Word of mouth plays a BIG role in gadget selling.

They can wither do what I said above, or sell. If they could just handle a smaller profit margin for a small while- they could make a GREAT phone and undercut other phones with the same/similar features. PLUS they way Android is going, their OS would already be golden. Their penny pinching gadget internals mixed with high prices just shows their lack of gadget know how and greed. Nuff said.]]>Feb 25th 2010 4:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/BTW I know other companies have affordable touchscreen radio receivers but I'm talking about a well made one by GARMIN or TOM TOM (not by a KIRF or coby) that I'd pay $500 for. A pioneer one that I'd like is around $1100 and way too expensive.]]>Feb 25th 2010 5:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Yeah... No. I hate dedicated GPS units - they are slow, buggy as all hell, and have touchscreens that aren't worth the plastic they're made of. Every time I go home to visit the folks I end up using their GPS unit, where I have to jab at the screen just to make it sense touches, and even then it usually thinks I'm hitting the next button over.

There are two ways this can play out:

- Apple, Google, RIM, Nokia, etc, bring lane guidance, real navigation capabilities to their phones, and Garmin/TomTom/Magellan will just keel over and die.

- Garmin/TomTom/Magellan somehow manage to *drastically* improve their software by leaps and bounds, and stops putting shitty hardware in their flagship devices (resistive touch, seriously?).

Based on history I'm banking on the former.]]>Feb 25th 2010 5:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 5:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Also don't forget the large market for built in GPS units in new cars. I dont know if Tomtom and Garmin has a part of that market, but surely most people would choose a built in navigation unit in thier car than having a phone and cable hanging everywhere on their dashboard. ]]>Feb 25th 2010 5:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 5:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
when 5, 8 and 12megapixels camera phones came out, people said it was the end of compact cameras. not so!

now with 720p video recording on smartphones, is this the end of dedicated video camcorders? i think not.]]>Feb 25th 2010 7:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 7:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 7:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Putting your smartphone into your pocket just seems like less of a hassle simply because it isn't really a choice. Hiding your GPS is because is nearly a waste of time in some areas - Except for that 1ish percent chance it gets stolen.

Any why would you put Garmin GPS on a Android phone? That seems repetitive to the extreme. Especially with the poor reviews I really don't get the Nuviphone.]]>Feb 25th 2010 8:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
A totally converged device Also creates a sinlge point of failure. No phone would = no music,no gps, no camera, no gaming, etc...

I just got a new tomtom with a 5 inch screen for 110$ (slickdeals). I'll stick with a stand alone unit until something major happens to make me switch. ]]>Feb 25th 2010 9:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
http://friskypics.com/p/90

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frisky/72444759/in/set-72057594052844222/]]>Feb 25th 2010 9:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Love the Photo.

"A man without Hope is already dead..."]]>Feb 25th 2010 12:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Nav on phones is going to be common for gadget owners... but there are one hundred million Americans whose heads would explode at the mere sound of DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOID]]>Feb 25th 2010 9:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
When driving, you simply can't initiate navigation safely with a Garmin. I can on my phone.]]>Feb 25th 2010 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
by division(in Millions)
Aviation $246 +5 to +10%
Auto/Mobile $2,054 -5 to +5%
Marine $177 +5 to +10%
Outdoor/Fitness $469 +5 to +10%

Total $2,946 0 to +5%


Percentage of Revenue by division 2009

Aviation 8%%
Auto/Mobile 70%
Marine 6%
Outdoor/Fitness 16%

No debt and $2 billion in the bank to make run at the smartphone market.

Garmin expect 100-200 million in revenue from the Nuvifone devices in 2010 at breakeven margins.]]>Feb 25th 2010 12:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 3:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 6:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/Feb 25th 2010 10:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
This will have the biggest impact on Garmin users, the majority of their upper end GPS systems use the MSN service to get their data for weather, movies, gas station prices and a bunch of other information. This will now become obsolete once they terminate the service in 2012.

I truly despise how companies team up with each other to offer services like this, then decide for one reason or another (usually profit margins), to break off partnerships with each other. In the case of navigation devices I feel that they are not only a device that is incredibly useful, but they are truly a safety feature for any drivers who don't know the area their in and are trying to find pertinent information such as gas station locations, emergency services etc...

I guess I should have seen this coming from Microsoft, most likely it's them stopping the service and not Garmin. It only benefits Garmin to have them offering the service and them taking a little slice of the pie for each sale. Unless Garmin is going to step up and start offering these services independently, which I highly doubt..a huge portion of the features on their devices will just cease to work. You should be able to get a refund on the device if they don't continue to provide the service, it's not fair to the consumer to keep having companies make deals with each other to offer services then decide to stop them because they are not making enough $$ to keep it going.

Shame on both companies for allowing this kind of stuff to happen.

]]>Mar 14th 2010 9:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Not everyone is a smartphone user, and even some who are don't have free nav apps, or don't want it tied to their phone (that would really be bad for loaning your nav unit to your wife or kids, wouldn't it?).

$200-$250 nav units are plentiful, and best of all are simple in the minds of a non-gadget person - get me to my destination and reroute me if I screw up or have to detour.

But - I bet these companies will instead (wrongly, IMO) try to target the very SAME customer who is a gadget person (ie. already likely owns a smartphone) by putting out more expensive devices that try to build more in - targeting a customer who isn't going to buy a device like that anyway, much less at a higher price point - and exceeding the needs AND price point, as well as creating an intimidating product for the non-smartphone customer demographic who IS likely to be in the market for a nav unit.
...and if they do, I wish them the best in their suicide efforts.]]>Apr 19th 2010 1:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/25/garmin-and-tomtom-cling-to-profits-hope/
Gamin? Who's Gamin?]]>Apr 19th 2010 5:13PM