Mobile Electronics
September 12, 2006
Garmin Mobile™ Navigates BlackBerry® Customers Door-to-Door
OLATHE, Kan./September 12, 2006/PR Newswire — Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), today announced that Garmin Mobile – an application that delivers maps, directions, and turn-by-turn navigation – will be available on select BlackBerry devices.
“The availability of Garmin Mobile on BlackBerry devices gives BlackBerry customers numerous features that they would not normally have access to,” said Gary Kelley, Garmin’s vice president of marketing. “The advanced features of Garmin Mobile – such as real time fuel prices, traffic, and weather information – are very desirable because they help save time and money while traveling.”
Garmin Mobile is the first off-board cellular phone navigation system that visually depicts and constantly updates the user’s position on a detailed moving map. Since this is an off-board solution, mapping data is stored on Garmin’s servers, not on the BlackBerry device itself. Therefore, customers have the advantage of the most up-to-date mapping information available directly from Garmin’s servers. In order to access Garmin’s network with the mapping data, the BlackBerry device must have a data plan for network access.
With Garmin Mobile, customers will receive voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions so they can easily navigate to a specific street address or points of interest (POI) – places like hotels, restaurants, shopping, and tourist attractions. The text-to-speech functionality allows the unit to audibly announce the name of streets and POIs, letting drivers keep their eyes on the road while navigating through busy traffic and tricky roadways. If users stray off course, Garmin Mobile will automatically calculate the quickest way to get back on track. Map data is provided by NAVTEQ – a world leader in premium-quality mapping.
BlackBerry customers will also have access to real-time traffic, fuel, and weather information. The real-time traffic service identifies accidents, road construction, or other incidents affecting traffic, and routes users around the congestion. The fuel feature displays helpful fuel information such as the filling station’s name, fuel price, type of fuel, and distance to the station (U.S. only). Real-time weather information lets users see weather at their current location or anywhere in North America.
In order to access the navigation benefits of Garmin Mobile through a BlackBerry, customers may need to pair their BlackBerry with either the GPS 10x™ or GPS 20SM™. The GPS 10x is a highly sensitive, portable GPS sensor that receives location data from the GPS and transmits that information to the BlackBerry via Bluetooth wireless technology. The GPS 20SM is a portable phone cradle with a built-in high sensitivity GPS receiver. When the BlackBerry is cradled in the GPS 20SM phone mount, the GPS 20SM also serves as a Bluetooth hands-free calling kit and phone charger.
The BlackBerry Edition of Garmin Mobile is a yearly subscription based service. For more information, pricing, or to subscribe to the Garmin Mobile BlackBerry service, visit the Garmin Mobile Buyer’s Guide, http://www.garmin.com/mobilephones.
About Garmin International Inc.
Garmin International Inc. is a member of the Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN) group of companies, which designs and manufactures navigation, communication and information devices - most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin is a leader in the general aviation and consumer GPS markets and its products serve aviation, marine, outdoor recreation, automotive, wireless and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin's virtual pressroom at www.garmin.com/pressroom or contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200. Garmin is a registered trademark, and Garmin Mobile, GPS 20SM, and GPS 10x are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries. Anticipated product availability dates are based on management's current expectations and are not guaranteed.
All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Notice on forward-looking statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. All statements regarding the company’s future product introductions and expected product availability dates are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of Garmin’s Form 10-K can be downloaded at www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. |
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