Garmin is really beginning to get on my nerves. When the GPS manufacturer originally announced the GPS-centric nuviphone a year and a half ago, it really kicked up some dust because it was new and interesting. Now, like a boy that cried wolf one too many times, Garmin has been eaten by the likes of the newly launched Palm Pre and the anticipated 3rd generation iPhone which we could see in days.
Speaking of a boy that cried wolf, Garmin has again changed–I think anyway–the launch date of at least one of the Garmin-Asus nuviphone models. In a shareholders call yesterday, Garmin chief operating officer Cliff Pemble said that we’ll see on or both of the nuviphones hit the Asian market this month, and that a US carrier launch is “getting very close.”
What I find confusing about this statement is that only one month ago, during Garmin’s 2009 first quarter earnings call, the company said that the Garmin-Asus nuviphone G60 (the more consumer-oriented of the two nuviphones) would be delayed once again to the second half of 2010 (despite its recent passing through the FCC). Nothing was mentioned about the nuviphone M20 (the business-class smartphone) so I’m wondering if this is the phone we’ll see launched next month.
I don’t know what to believe anymore. In fact, I’m more interested in the Palm Pre at the moment.
