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Do you think Garmin is making the same mistake Verizon made?

coolwater

coolwater

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 8, 2009
722
1
I don't know if Apple went to Garmin first before TomTom, or if Apple and TomTom already have signed exclusivity in US, but Garmin apparently has said no thank you to Apple. Because, Garmin is said to be developing its own portable phone rather than work with Apple iPhone.

As a Garmin user, I really do prefer Garmin navigation on my iPhone instead of TomTom.

Anyway, I really think Garmin cell phone is a bad idea.
 
coolwater said:
I don't know if Apple went to Garmin first before TomTom, or if Apple and TomTom already have signed exclusivity in US, but Garmin apparently has said no thank you to Apple. Because, Garmin is said to be developing its own portable phone rather than work with Apple iPhone.

As a Garmin user, I really do prefer Garmin navigation on my iPhone instead of TomTom.

Anyway, I really think Garmin cell phone is a bad idea.
Click to expand...

What do you exclusivity in the US?

There are already 2 other TBT nav apps for the iphone in the US (AT&T Navigator and Gokivo).
 
Garmin is making a monumental mistake by coming out with their own handset hardware.

Just because you know how to make a good GPS doesn't mean you know jack squat about making a phone handset.

Garmin should have grown a clue and simply built an application for iPhone, Android, RIM, etc.

They are looking extremely foolish and it's going to be very hard for them to continue selling clunky dash board GPS units in a few years when the same functions are on pretty much every mobile device.
 
samab said:
What do you exclusivity in the US?

There are already 2 other TBT nav apps for the iphone in the US (AT&T Navigator and Gokivo).
Click to expand...

I was thinking exclusive among 3 major US companies: Garmin, TomTom, Magellian if that's even possible.
 
I think it more Tom Tom came to apple first. Reason for it is I do not really know of anything made by Garmin currently for cell phones or PDA. Now I do know of several Tom Tom products for those same items.
 
TMar said:
And Apple did?
Click to expand...

They knew the software behind it, yes. The iPhone's beauty isn't in its design, it is in it's software. Believe me... If anyone knew Objective-C and its framework... It was Apple. So yes.
 
coolwater said:
I was thinking exclusive among 3 major US companies: Garmin, TomTom, Magellian if that's even possible.
Click to expand...

Networks in Motion (maker of Gokivo, VZ Navigator, AAA Mobile Navigator, Sprint Navigation, Alltel Navigation) and TeleNav (maker of AT&T Navigator) powers every single carrier TBT nav apps in the US.
 
Switz213 said:
They knew the software behind it, yes. The iPhone's beauty isn't in its design, it is in it's software. Believe me... If anyone knew Objective-C and its framework... It was Apple. So yes.
Click to expand...

Yeah they knew how to make software, they didn't have any experience with phone software though. They didn't know how to make the hardware either. To say what makes the phone is just the software, is almost as stupid as saying the Garmin shouldn't do it just because they haven't before.
 
TMar said:
And Apple did?
Click to expand...

They didn't until they spent a few years working closely with Motorola. The way I see it, the ROKR was Apple's way to learn how to make cell phones or learn how to not make cell phones depending on your perspective.
 
If AT&T is anything to go by @ $10 for the Navigator GPS option, Garmin could be on to something with an unlocked phone/gps device.

Mind you, the only reason I will have GPS of any kind is because it is on the iPhone, otherwise no real desire to have it.
 
I actually had Garmin on my Windows Mobile device before I got my iphone. It was $99 for the software but I obtained it through ummmmm less noble means.

Had great turn by turn support though. I really loved it and miss it. Not sure if I would pay $99 for one since I have my stand-alone gps already...

Anyways, here is the link to the Garmin mobile app... So I have no idea why they would not do an iPhone app.

http://www8.garmin.com/mobile/mobilext/
 
coolwater said:
Anyway, I really think Garmin cell phone is a bad idea.
Click to expand...

Horrible idea. Garmin is the king of companies with ADD. I was one of the poor suckers who bought a Garmin iQue 3600. It was a convergence of a Palm device and a GPS. What a piece of crap. It had an extremely poor GPS and a unique screen size that was different from almost all of the Palm handhelds. The hardware was also unique for developers. There were issues with hardware addressing and no 3rd party access to the GPS functions for software developers. As a result, developers didn't want to write software for it because it was such a small percentage of Palm devices and Garmin, as Garmin is known for, abandoned it. $550 down the drain. They issued a few firmware updates and then set it adrift to never release anything more for it again. Almost forgot, if the battery went dead you'd lose all waypoints, routes and points of interest. You had to transfer everything from a computer again. Did I mentioned the battery sucked so that transfer happened a lot.

Then they had the nerve to later release a smaller version, the iQue 3200 that was a total failure. Too many people learned the lesson from the 3600.

I will never purchase a Garmin convergence device again.
 
Not developing for the product that is hot on the market is a big mistake, even if its your competitors product.

Ie: Microsoft has made a photo synth app for the iphone.
 
doubleatheman said:
Not developing for the product that is hot on the market is a big mistake, even if its your competitors product.
Click to expand...

There is only so much R&D dollars to go around, unfortunately.

Garmin will continue to be very much a hardware company because one of the two co-founders is Chinese from Taiwan --- so they will always think (I don't have a clue whether or not it's true) that they have an edge in maintaining a lower cost in manufacturing because they understand that part of the OEM manufacturing world.
 
I WISH it was Gamin with the App, or at least I wish they come out with one. I've owned both a Garmin and a TomTom, and I like the Garmin much better. The interface, and the look is better for me.
 
To be honest I think its TomTom who are missing the boat - I downloaded Navigon rather than wait for TomTom to get there finger out and its better than my existing Garmin unit anyway so no chance I'll be going to get TomTom as well - The GPS location service seems to be 100% accurate on the 3Gs so can't see I need the TomTom booster anyway.
 
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