Garmin is a leader in consumer GPS technology. But it now faces plummeting prices and competition from cell phones. Can the company find its way?
Comment: I have had a Garmin StreetPilot for about a year now and it has revolutionized my life. We went on a vacation across the country that was stress free thanks to the ease of use and the reliability of this product. I'm not buying into the idea of the cell phone providers taking away much of their business. Besides, Garmin is a lot more than a 1-trick pony, they also have a wealth of products in aviation, marine, recreational, etc.
Comment: New is old fashioned...
The day is almost upon us when, for $20, one can buy a package of GPS "DOTS" that can be attached to your bicycle, lawnmower or even a soccer ball that can be found INSTANTLY when tracked by GPS> Theivery will take a huge dive, posesions will be safe and this stock will skyrocket.
Comment: My cell phone provider has presented Bills with errors and error corrections from day 1,when I signed up July. Two days requested an additional phone. What I got was added Account, then charged 175.oo for discontinued uase of ACCOUNT #2,and wascharged fon BOTH accounts to make very FIRST bill =$455.00 and total phone calls, were less than 100 minutes. I will take GARMIN on-time- price over all of Cell phone confusion. No Car GPS 4me@499.00 yr.
Comment: My Car GPS is cost prohibitive $499. yr. must Pay 14.99 month Access/Emergency,etc. and 200 minutes for no-hands-phone usage cost 75.00. Worse, got sucked in with Verizon at 105.00 month mixed eith No Hand safer Cell use.. All that wer Buyer Mistakes--But, my Garmin One-Time-Price of 199 .00 @ famous discount store is BEST of all--. LOST AINT FUN--Cell phons batteries DIE early. And I ain't paying ONSTAR $500.00 a year!.
Comment: Lassesen:
I am contemplating a World Edition from Verizon...what GPS bluetooth unit did you buy for $40?
Thank you.
Comment: I have multiple generations of GPS and right now, my solo GPS is a Blackberry Global Edition getting (for free) maps and traffic from google, and maps alone from RIM(Blackberry). Verizon at present disables the built in GPS in this phone (poor decision given this article), so for $40 bucks I purchased a bluetooth GPS unit. So I have a GPS, MP3 player [2 gig memory card is sweet], phone, email, web browser that will literally work any where in the world with this unit ($200 after discounts).
Comment: I tried a Cel Phone GPS product with terrible results. It was slow to respond in the city and unusable in the country. It gave me unreliable results when I used it as a search to find business listings. I canceled my subscription.
Comment: Until prices drop a bit more, I won't be buying a GPS from anyone.
Comment: I'm surprised the family-tracking opportunities was given such a small footnote in the article. It seems the ability to track/locate children or other family members (elderly) is probably the greatest opportunity for GPS devices. The cell phone market seems to have a lock on this and Garmin's own 2-way radio devices are a small range (5-10 miles) as well as expensive for the cost/value ratio compared to cell phones.
Comment: I'm suprised the family-tracking opportunity was given such a small note in the article. I think the ability to track/locate children and other family members (elderly) is probably the single greatest potential for new GPS devices. The cell phone market seems to have a lock on this and Garmin's 2-way radios have a very short range (5-10 miles).
Comment: It all come to price baby!!! If I can get comparable value in a mobile phone for a fraction of the price of a Garmin system, why should I buy Garmin? Price, Price, Price!!!
Comment: My GPS,but at $499.00 annually is 2much4me. ,I'm delighted with Garmin one-time price $199.00 at ppopular discount store.. Also got Verizon with GPS cell phone, roaming,unending uncertain monthly costs-I won't use that in addition to OnStar monthly suscription 14.99 to rip-off. All turned out as buyer mistakes--Except GARMIN.
Comment: If you've ever had to work with a cellular provider to get your GPS-enabled app on their phone, you know that standalone GPS device makers will be just fine, at least in the near-term. Cellular providers are incredibly hesitant to allow anyone access to GPS data provided by the phone hardware. It's all about greed. They can't figure out how to turn this into a revenue stream, so they prevent access and the consumer suffers. Be sure to tell your cellular company thanks the next time you pay your bill.
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