It looks like Garmin won’t be going at it alone when it comes to their Nuvifone as the company has just tied-up with Asus in producing a whole new series of phones, the Nuvifone included.
Now known as the nuvifone G60, this will be the first Asus-Garmin made phone with another handset speculated to be unveiled at the World Mobile Congress. We’ve seen and heard about the Garmin Nuvifone in the past, but it has yet to become commercially available in the market. With their new partnership with Asus, 2009 might be the year when we finally see it hit shelves. As to what OS it will feature, there have been rumors in the past of an Android-based Garmin phone being released this year, but Asus declined to name any specifics.
We have expertise in WinMo, Linux and Android, but we believe the software is more important then the OS.
This new tandem will mark the end of the Asus-only branded mobile phone era. Safe to say, the 10 new phones that Asus is working on to rival HTC this year will be under the Asus-Garmin brand as opposed to just being an Asus phone.
How successful will this new partnership be is yet to be known, but considering that Asus has vast experience in the mobile phone biz and Garmin with their expertise in navigation software and gadgetry, they will definitely capture a certain segment in the market that other manufacturers have yet to tap.
[source]