Multiple nuvifones coming from Garmin – Asus
Garmin is definitely getting into the cell phone market in a big way. They are announcing a partnership with Asus today, producing several nuvifone models in 2009. This appears to be in addition to the Android phone we previously discussed. The initial model, the Garmin-Asus G60, is still expected to be delivered in the first half of 2009.
Asus is probably best known for the Eee PC that started the netbook craze. It has been known for sometime now that Garmin had contracted with Asus for production of the nuvifone, but this is a broader partnership. The Kansas City Star is reporting that the "partnership calls for Asus to develop phones exclusively with Garmin." Both companies have been planning to release Android models however, but this may mean that Asus will not do that under their own label.
There will be a news conference this morning at 11 ET, as I tweeted about yesterday. I may update this post with additional info if there is anything worth sharing. More images follow.
Do you think there might be a trail-mapping variant of these Garminasus phones? I’d be really interested if it was ruggedised and weatherproofed, had all the Oregon’s capabilities, fitted on my mountain bike handlebars and made phone calls too!
I wpould buy one in a second if it was the size of my Nuvi-5000 and had the PDA features of my Verizon TREO-700P phone.
It could be called the Asus-Garmin-Filofax.