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How Garmin Failed to See the iPhone Threat

4 points by SlipperySlope 14y ago

SlipperySlope 14y ago
"Fast forward to mid-2012 and yesterday’s demonstration of new mapping and navigation capabilities on Apple’s iOS 6. Garmin isn’t a nonparticipant in the smartphone ecosystem: It builds many iPhone and Android apps for navigation, boating, aviation and outdoor sports. And, indeed, half of Garmin’s business is in those nonautomotive areas. But it’s about to get killed in the half that everyone pays attention to: Automotive navigation. " Convergence works when there is a dominant physical device that is good enough to supplant purpose-built specialized devices.
- samstave 14y ago
  True, but in this day and age - if you are running a tech company and you are not paranoid as hell about Apple/Google/Facebook farking you over - then you're unfit to run a tech company. Now more than ever should everyone be worried about the famous question: "So whats to stop [Apple/Google/Facebook] from doing this?" You need to take the OMGPOP route: build something very well and very successful that the Zyngas cant just steal it - they HAVE to buy you. (Lets just hope the post acquisition health of the acquiring company is far better than Zynga's :)
Bill_Dimm 14y ago
My personal experience with Garmin (hopefully not too off-topic): I purchased a Garmin hiking GPS. Hiking GPSs, unlike the ones you get for your car, often don't come with maps. So, I purchased Garmin's U.S. Topo 2008 map, which covers the whole country with modest resolution. They also sell more detailed regional maps at a higher price. I found that Lake Nockamixon, one of the biggest lakes in Pennsylvania (1450 acres), was missing from the map. Marsh Creek (535 acres) was also missing. I reported this problem to Garmin, expecting them to apologize and vow to fix it in the next release. Instead, they claimed that the map I purchased didn't have enough "detail" to display those lakes and tried to get me to purchase the more expensive regional maps (which they confirmed did have the lakes). Both of those lakes were man-made lakes constructed in the 70's by damming up small creeks. The Topo 2008 map showed the creeks that were there 40 years earlier, rather than the lakes that existed in 2008. I pointed that out, but they continued to insist that it was due to a lack of "detail" rather than outdated data. I asked how the map could have enough detail to display the tiny little creeks from 40 years ago, but not enough detail to display huge lakes. I asked how the map could have enough detail to display 20-acre lakes but not enough detail to display lakes that were over 50 times larger. They had no answer for those questions. I asked to have it escalated to a manager, and I was told that the manager was in agreement -- it's just a lack of detail. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get them to care about the inaccuracies in their maps. This article, with Garmin's CEO ignoring warnings of the threat from smart phones, reminds me of that experience. Heads buried in the sand, not wanting to listen to anyone.

4 points by SlipperySlope 14y ago

"Fast forward to mid-2012 and yesterday’s demonstration of new mapping and navigation capabilities on Apple’s iOS 6. Garmin isn’t a nonparticipant in the smartphone ecosystem: It builds many iPhone and Android apps for navigation, boating, aviation and outdoor sports. And, indeed, half of Garmin’s business is in those nonautomotive areas. But it’s about to get killed in the half that everyone pays attention to: Automotive navigation. " Convergence works when there is a dominant physical device that is good enough to supplant purpose-built specialized devices.

samstave 14y ago
True, but in this day and age - if you are running a tech company and you are not paranoid as hell about Apple/Google/Facebook farking you over - then you're unfit to run a tech company. Now more than ever should everyone be worried about the famous question: "So whats to stop [Apple/Google/Facebook] from doing this?" You need to take the OMGPOP route: build something very well and very successful that the Zyngas cant just steal it - they HAVE to buy you. (Lets just hope the post acquisition health of the acquiring company is far better than Zynga's :)

Bill_Dimm 14y ago

My personal experience with Garmin (hopefully not too off-topic): I purchased a Garmin hiking GPS. Hiking GPSs, unlike the ones you get for your car, often don't come with maps. So, I purchased Garmin's U.S. Topo 2008 map, which covers the whole country with modest resolution. They also sell more detailed regional maps at a higher price. I found that Lake Nockamixon, one of the biggest lakes in Pennsylvania (1450 acres), was missing from the map. Marsh Creek (535 acres) was also missing. I reported this problem to Garmin, expecting them to apologize and vow to fix it in the next release. Instead, they claimed that the map I purchased didn't have enough "detail" to display those lakes and tried to get me to purchase the more expensive regional maps (which they confirmed did have the lakes). Both of those lakes were man-made lakes constructed in the 70's by damming up small creeks. The Topo 2008 map showed the creeks that were there 40 years earlier, rather than the lakes that existed in 2008. I pointed that out, but they continued to insist that it was due to a lack of "detail" rather than outdated data. I asked how the map could have enough detail to display the tiny little creeks from 40 years ago, but not enough detail to display huge lakes. I asked how the map could have enough detail to display 20-acre lakes but not enough detail to display lakes that were over 50 times larger. They had no answer for those questions. I asked to have it escalated to a manager, and I was told that the manager was in agreement -- it's just a lack of detail. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get them to care about the inaccuracies in their maps. This article, with Garmin's CEO ignoring warnings of the threat from smart phones, reminds me of that experience. Heads buried in the sand, not wanting to listen to anyone.