Garmin Delays nuvifone

GPS maker Garmin has reined in its revenue and profit forecasts for 2008...and delayed the launch of its nuvifone smartphone.

GPS maker Garmin has lowered its profit and revenue expectations for 2008 (PDF) along with weak second quarter results—causing its shares to take a significant dip in the stock market. But the company also announced announced it is delaying the launch of its nuvifone smartphone .

Garmin announced its nuvifone smartphone as a would-be challenger to Apple’s iPhone back in January; the unit is to feature a touch-based interface, 3.5G wireless connectivity, a streamlined interface, and Internet-assisted GPS features, and automatic photo geotagging. Garmin was sued by Nuvio over the nuvifone name shortly thereafter.

Garmin had planned to launch the nuvifone during the third quarter of 2008, but has now pushed it back to the second half of 2009, saying meeting carrier requirements is taking longer than anticipated.