Friday, August 1, 2008

Garmin's Nuvifone delayed yet again

Yet another sad news hits mobile world; Garmin has deciced to delay its most anticipated first smartphone product Nuvifone up until the first half of 2009.

Affected by the poor second quarter earnings result, the U.S. biggest navigation device maker is pessimistic about entering a whole new market segment: smartphone. The company has now pushed back the launch twice in the last three months, its initial plan was to launch the Nuvifone in this year third quarter.

But when Garmin announced that it'll delayed "again" the launch date of Nuvifone to next year, it was Oppenheimer & Co analyst Yair Reiner turn who shares a cynical perspective: "I have a feeling that if Garmin loses confidence in its ability to sell at least a million phones in 2009, it may decide to exit the (wireless) market."

The nuvifone delay accounted for about $100 million of the revenue cut, a company executive said in a conference call. "I think really what we're talking about here is maybe as much as $100 million of the $600 million that we dropped," a company executive said on a conference call.

It's a real pity to hear the news, for the Nuvifone can make an interesting alternative of choice in our mobile world. IMHO it's not the best move for Garmin, since the Nuvifone has picked up a good vibe from its presentations, either from reviewers or from mobile users. But with so many delays, consumers will be bored with it even before the Nuvifone is launched. And that's what will really hurt Garmin's earnings...

Head on to
PC Mag article for more detail information on the news.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

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