ASUS confirms split wih Garmin, opens door to Garmin iOS app
updated 02:20 pm EDT, Mon October 25, 2010
ASUS says Garmin phone partnership ending
An unnamed ASUS official today confirmed suspicions and said it was ending the Garmin-ASUS partnership on smartphones. More details were expected to become public on Tuesday. Garmin itself didn't comment on the Reuters statements.
Garmin had already cast doubt on the project as it warned it might exit the partnership if it couldn't turn around flagging smartphone sales. Combined, the two have made just $27 million in revenue since the teamwork began.
While ASUS has said it still plans to keep making phones without Garmin's help, the American GPS designer hasn't said what it would do once done. The move has already raised the prospects of Garmin apps for iOS, Android and other platforms, since outside smartphone apps would no longer create a direct conflict of interest with its own projects. Magellan, Navigon, TomTom and other contenders have already made smartphone apps for at least the iPhone and have seen it as a way of offsetting their GPS device declines.
