I’m gradually becoming less excited about the Garmin Nuvifone, and now it’s been pushed back to sometime in 2009.
It’s not that I think it’ll be a bad phone, but it’s just going to be too late. If the iPhone has turn-by-turn GPS in the next six months, what on earth will be the draw of the Nuvifone? Granted, the Nuvifone might have better turn-by-turn, but the iPhone will have thousands of apps, a superior interface (I assume), better browsing, etc.
As Unwired View points out, Garmin won’t even commit to a Q1 2009 release, meaning it could be well into 2009 before it comes out. At that point, it had better be awesome and cheap!
First, Unwired View is reporting that the phone might be available in white, to go along with the expected black model. Mock-ups of the white version can be seen to the right. It looks nice!
Also, Laptop Magazine has a five minute hands-on video with the phone. It sounds like the phone is progressing well and has a ton of potential, but still needs quite a bit of work. (via IntoMobile)
This could certain cause some headaches at Garmin. Their Nuvifone looks pretty neat, but will reportedly cost $500 with a contract, which suddenly looks very expensive when compared to the $199 iPhone. Of course, we have no idea what the TomTom software for the iPhone will cost, so some of the diffrence is likely to be chewed up. I’d expect to see more news on this very soon.
According to PHONE Magazine, the upcoming Garmin Nuvifone may cost $499.99 with a two year AT&T contract, which would include a mandatory $19.99 unlimited data and navigation plan.
Considering that it requires a voice plan to go with it, you’re looking at a minimum of $60/month after the $500 purchase. That seems a bit high.
At this point, they might be able to get away with it since it has some compelling features. However, if the 3G iPhone includes GPS, much of that advantage will disappear and this price tag will seem much worse.
Garmin has a phone coming out this August called the “Nuvifone”. I’ve just seen some new pictures of the UI, and it’s looking really slick.
They haven’t released much in the way of details (carrier, memory, etc), but we obviously know it’ll have a GPS. In fact, they says the GPS experience will “far exceed what we’ve seen so far on mobile phones”. They also haven’t said anything about the browser, but it looks to be a very full-featured one based on the screens we’ve seen.
I’m gradually becoming less excited about the Garmin Nuvifone, and now it’s been pushed back to sometime in 2009.
