Garmin Connect staff lost in SF office shutdown
Garmin has decided to close its San Francisco office, resulting in the loss of most of the team that built MotionBased, the original Garmin Connect platform, which was acquired by Garmin in 2005. A new website, The GC Team, has been posted, saying:
GPS beats market research at own game
TeleNav is releasing some data this morning that isn’t too startling in its own right, but it speaks to a revolution in market share analysis. Companies like Nielsen and Arbitron estimate media market share, but GPS-enabled phones can do them one two better, delivering location market share data, and not just estimates either. This [...]
What does Garmin have up their sleeve?
The crew in Olathe definitely has something up their sleeve. The same guys who gave us 50 nuvi models have only introduced a handful of new ones this past year (the nuvi 1490T, 1690, trucker-friendly 465T and the stealth-introduced nuvi 1450 — only the first two count as major consumer introductions). No new nuvis [...]
TomTom to offer daily map updates?
I’m never sure how much to trust Google Translate, but if they got this German article right, TomTom’s CEO Harold Goddijn (pictured) claims they will be offering map updates every day or two by the end of the year. It sounds like we are definitely moving towards connected devices with constantly updated maps. Here’s [...]
More on Garmin BirdsEye aerial imagery
The BirdsEye aerial / satellite imagery subscription program for the Garmin Colorado, Dakota and Oregon series is now official. I have a few tidbits to add to my post from last week:
The $29.99 subscriptions will be available starting this March
Imagery will include “0.5 meter per pixel resolution in many areas of the United States”
There [...]
Garmin BirdsEye Satellite Imagery
It looks like Garmin is getting ready to announce a BirdsEye satellite imagery subscription program for owners of the Colorado, Dakota and Oregon handheld series. Similar to DeLorme’s Map Library, the BirdsEye program will let you transfer an unlimited amount of satellite imagery and aerial photos to a compatible Garmin handheld for $29.99 per [...]
Lifetime map updates coming to TomTom models
Well, well. In what could be the biggest news coming out of CES in terms of auto GPS this year, TomTom has announced that they will offer Lifetime Map Updates, a feature that will be incorporated into a range of TomTom units released in 2010.
Hey Garmin – WTF?
Garmin has apparently already made all their CES announcements. Lets see, we have a new golf GPS, a motorcycle GPS, a tool for high-tech grease monkeys and an app to make your nuvi curse like a sailor. The country’s biggest electronics show and this is all they have? WTF?
Well, actually, that’s a rhetorical [...]
2010 GPS predictions
Despite the relative success of my 2009 predictions, I hesitate to forecast anything this coming year. The GPS navigation market is in flux, undergoing a major shift from PNDs (personal navigation devices) to cell phones. That change, in itself, is fodder for multiple posts, but it also makes this the most difficult year yet [...]
Garmin discontinues nuvi x85 series
Garmin has discontinued their nuvi x85 series, the only current models with MSN Direct service, which is scheduled to end on January 1, 2012. Most units will be retired by then, or people will have lost interest in the service, but I have to wonder how many were sold to unsuspecting buyers over the [...]
