Garmin-Asus phones

Saturday, February 7th 2009 - 20:00 CET - Comments: 0

G armin and ASUSTeK Computer announced a strategic alliance that will leverage the companies' navigation and mobile telephony expertise to design, manufacture and distribute co-branded location-centric mobile phones. Garmin and ASUS have already begun joint development on a diverse mobile phone product line, which will be known as the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone mobile phones. The companies expect to bring to market several Garmin-Asus Nuvifone models in 2009, and a new Garmin-Asus Nuvifone cell phone will be announced at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain, February 16-19, 2009.

 

Garmin-Asus GPS-enabled mobile phones
"We believe that converged devices are an emerging opportunity," said Dr. Min Kao, chairman and CEO of Garmin Ltd. "This alliance is advantageous to both companies because it allows us to combine our resources and establish a strong foundation from which we will innovate and introduce the world to the benefits of LBS-centric mobile phones. We've been working with ASUS for over one year on the initial Nuvifone that was announced in 2008 on the basis of an ODM relationship. Learning from this experience, we concluded that by leveraging and combining our respective industry-leading areas of expertise at a higher level, we will be able not only to significantly expand our product line, but also to shorten our product development time. We believe that through this strategic alliance we are uniquely positioned to deliver the world's best integrated and most compelling GPS-enabled mobile devices."

 

 

Garmin-Asus phones with GPS functions
"This alliance allows ASUS and Garmin to seamlessly combine the strengths of both companies to offer market leading mobile phone solutions that are of the best design and highest quality. ASUS and Garmin both believe strongly in the continuous investment of R&D resources to unfailingly provide leading-edge innovations to people and businesses," said Jonney Shih, chairman of ASUSTeK Computer Inc. "Through this alliance, our companies will continue to develop innovations that simplify life. Our technologies should accommodate our customers, not the other way around. We believe all devices should perform and communicate seamlessly not just anytime and anyplace, but in real time, in real places, and we're confident the Nuvifone series will meet this objective."

 

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 handset
All Garmin-Asus Nuvifone devices will continue the product vision of the original Nuvifone and will be LBS-centric devices that seamlessly connect, communicate and navigate. The original Garmin Nuvifone that was announced in 2008 will be re-branded as the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60. The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 mobile phone is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2009, and additional information about the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 handset will be released at the Mobile World Congress trade show.

 

 

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone features
LBS functionality is core to the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone series, which will offer the same turn-by-turn, voice-prompted navigation features found on high-end Garmin portable navigation devices (PND). It has preloaded maps and millions of points of interest that allow drivers to quickly find a specific street address, establishment's name or search for a destination by category. In addition, the Nuvifone includes quick access to online points of interest through internet enabled local search.

 

 

The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone harnesses the power of the worldwide web and information about local merchants and attractions is continually updated. The Nuvifone also features Ciao!, a social networking application that bridges the gap between multiple location based social networks and integrates them seamlessly into one device.

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