Garmin Mobile - New Features: Weather, Traffic and Gas Prices

Garmin upped the ante today on the mobile phone as a navigation device, with features you can’t find just anywhere. Garmin announced it is providing new dynamic content -- fuel prices, weather conditions and forecasts, and traffic information -- on all mobile phones equipped with Garmin Mobile -- a subscription-based, application delivering maps, directions, and turn-by-turn navigation on mobile phones. This new real-time content will be available at no additional fee to Garmin Mobile users beginning in July. Garmin Mobile is currently available on select Sprint and Nextel mobile phones.

"Since launching Garmin Mobile, we have introduced an entirely new audience to GPS navigation," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "We believe this new expanded content makes Garmin Mobile even more appealing because it lets drivers make educated decisions about their every day commuting activities -- from routing around traffic to finding the least expensive fuel. No other handset based navigation system in the U.S. offers this much content at such an affordable price."

Fuel Finder
Garmin Mobile's fuel locator allows users to find nearby gas stations with the least expensive fuel. Helpful information such as the filling station's name, fuel price, type of fuel (regular, mid-grade, premium, or diesel), and distance to the station are prominently displayed so consumers may make wise fuel purchase decisions. Pricing information is based on the station's recent credit card transactions. These credit card transactions are tracked and aggregated by OPIS, the world's most comprehensive source for petroleum pricing. Once a Garmin Mobile user selects a gas station, one push of a button allows them to navigate to it with voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions.

Traffic Alerts
The real-time traffic feature identifies accidents, road construction, or other incidents affecting traffic. The traffic information is displayed in a list format and graphically represented as icons on the navigation map. The severity of the delay -- low, medium, or high impact -- is also displayed. Garmin Mobile automatically calculates a route that navigates around traffic and construction delays. Traffic information is provided by Clear Channel's Total Traffic Network. This is the same system that powers a lot of Garmin's stand alone GPS units.

Weather
The current weather conditions and five-day forecast may also be accessed through Garmin Mobile. This feature allows Garmin Mobile customers to see weather at their current location or anywhere in North America. Weather information is provided by Custom Weather. Weather is something that I would love to see added to any connected GPS. TomTom has it on their units that connect through your Bluetooth enabled phone, and Garmin has it on their units that are connected through XM radio service, but I'd love it if ClearChannel could pump down some weather forecasts with the traffic feeds.

When launching the powerful Garmin Mobile application, subscribers will be greeted with the intuitive "Where to?" and "View Map" icons, which are also found on other Garmin automotive navigators. They can then navigate to an address in the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico; or search millions of points of interest (POI's) such as restaurants, hotels, ATMs, shopping and tourist attractions. Garmin Mobile maps are server-based and give consumers the most recent mapping available.

Consumers have unlimited access to all Garmin Mobile content -- which includes fuel prices, weather conditions and forecasts, and traffic content -- for just $9.99 per month. For more information on Garmin Mobile, visit http://mobile.garmin.com .

July 10, 2006

Garmin Mobile - New Features: Weather, Traffic and Gas Prices