What's Delaying the Garmin nuvifone?

Last month, Garmin admitted that the release of its nüvifone had been pushed back until 2009. The company has given a rather innocuous reason for this delay, but an unconfirmed report puts the real blame on problems caused by Asus.

Garmin says the launch of its phone/GPS combo has been delayed by the need to make changes to the design to meet the requests of wireless carriers.

Asus is manufacturing the nüvifone for Garmin, and DigiTimes cites unnamed sources when it says that the delay is actually the direct result of problems that have been caused by Asus' lack of experience making with phones with touchscreens.

More about the Garmin nüvifone

The nüvifone will be Garmin's first GSM featurephone designed to take advantage of its GPS knowledge. It will feature a large touchscreen, GPS receiver, and built-in maps.

It will be the replacement for this company's line of GPS-enabled Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds. Because it will offer a constant 3G connection to the Internet, this device will offer features not available in this company's earlier models, such as real-time traffic and fuel prices.

This will be more than just a navigation device. The nüvifone will have a web browser, messaging application, multimedia options, and a camera.

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