I suppose it was inevitable, given the intensity of the media focus on the handset industry’s collective leap onto the smartphone bandwagon, but it seems that hardly a day can go by without another technology company getting in on the act.
It’s been announced that Taiwan-based PDA and computer equipment maker ASUSTeK Computer is teaming up with satellite navigation technology giant Garmin to develop their own jointly-branded family of smartphones.
Under the name nuvifone, the companies will unveil at least one first-generation device at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month. The LBS (location-based service)-centric devices will ’seamlessly connect, communicate and navigate’ and will build on the capabilities of the initial nuvifone device launched by Garmin last year.
Significantly, the nuvifone will feature Ciao, a social networking application that ‘bridges the gap between multiple location-based social networks and integrates them seamlessly into one device’.
If nothing else, this announcement bolsters Juniper Research’s belief that smartphones will account for an increasing number of new mobile shipments over time, as ’smart’ features and functions become standard fittings for all kinds of phones and as customers turn to their mobiles for highly personalised services and applications.
But at least we can be sure of seeing the nuvifone in the flesh. As yet, it’s not known whether market-entry devices from fellow computer and location-based device makers Dell and Acer will materialise, despite growing numbers of reports around the blogosphere suggesting imminent announcements.
Tags: Acer, ASUSTeK, Ciao, computers, Dell, Garmin, location-based services, mobile devices, mobile handsets, mobile phones, Mobile World Congress, nuvifone, PDA, smartphones, social networking