How the Nuvifones Can Survive As Niche Devices
When Garmin announced in the lead-up to the Mobile World Congress an ongoing deal with Asus to build its long-anticipated Nuvifone GPS phone line, you could practically hear the wincing. Within hours, the move was alternately being called an admission of failure (Garmin originally planned to build the phone itself) and a desperate ploy to ride the goodwill engendered by Asus’ EeePC netbook. Analysts projected that new phones with versatile GPS features would crush the Nuvi by the time the device was finally released. The naysayers are jumping the gun. A GPS-focused phone can be a viable device so long as it follows the golden rule of the mobile market: Do one thing really well.
Cases in point: The iPhone is the best web device, the BlackBerry (RIMM) has the best business apps, and the G1 has the easiest access to Google services. Even average phones have proven successful by way of one killer app, such as Danger’s fold-out keyboard Sidekick.
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