Garmin triggers circuit breaker as stock sinks 10%

Do you think Phones and Tablets with GPS and Maps are taking over a lot of the market that Garmin has had in the past?

(per above: GPS apps for phones & tablets are worthless when you are out of cell phone range and further their form factor {size} make them undesirable on the trails)

Garmin went into last quarter's Christmas season with a lot of obsolete product lines. In fact the new 500 series Oregon w/GLONAS sensitivity + updated screen will not be available until March 2013. Likewise many here on these pages have been rather underwhelmed by their newly announced Nuvi line. Instead of keeping these core business lines competitive and current, crucial R&D capital has been going elsewhere (like the newly demoed Garmin electronic automobile dash or Garmin Quatix).

A correction in Garmin stock can become beneficial to both consumer/users & the company as a whole ... if a slide forces a refocus of the Company's attention on core product lines and pricing adjusts to levels more consistent with today's consumer realities.

under Garmin to update their line. The consumer can be brutal to a company that fails to bring new products to market and rightly so.

Our daughter will be graduating this Spring & has already been hired by a major corporation. I could have bought her a NUVI for her new job in May but chose to delay any purchases until later this Spring .. if then. There was certainly nothing compelling "Garmin" to buy last December.

I agree with the comment that Garmin was caught between product lines, with the new product not available for the Christmas season.

(Very few companies like to admit their sales have strong seasonal elements -- Apple didn't want to admit that for many years, yet it clearly has seasonal swings.)

Still, the company has solid product lines and good governance.

Like a lot of companies, they're being punished by a market that thinks long-term is "what's for lunch?"

It's hard for a company that has long-term plans to deal with the increasingly short-term focus of many (institutional) investors.

as long as I live in an area populated with increasing number of speed cameras and red light cameras, I feel "safe" when I have a working GPSr w/ POI with me, when driving. Smartphone is not my option.

I believe that the Smartphone and GPS apps available on them has taken a toll.

I think it will cause the sales figures to go down, but not disappear.

There is no way I would/could use a smartphone as a GPS all the time instead of the full blown dedicated GPS unit.

Many people do not understand the fundimental differences between smart phones and dedicated GPS units. The over dependance on terrestrial cell towers to navigate makes the phone less than desireable beyond casual use. You're not crossing Alaska with one.

I for one who travels a lot for work and have a smartphone and never use it for navigating. I just prefer the Garmin for navigation.

I don't see the Iphone or smart phone completely replacing gps units. Some may justify the cost of the smart phone by subtracting the cost of a new gps unit yet they still come with monthly charges. Guess I am old school.

And you obviously don't understand the technology in smart phones. Modern smart phones contain the same gps chips as dedicated gps units. With the proper gps app such as CoPilot or Navigon you can use your smart phone as a standalone gps without the use of cell towers.

But the die hard Garmin/TomTom fans will keep repeating the same misinformation over and over because they refuse to admit that dedicated gps units are a dying technology.

.............100%

Likely some "analyst" opened his stupid mouth and spewed his ill-informed opinion!

smartphone fan boys keep making the same statement to refute the claim. The issue with you bringing up applications such as Navigon, Tom-Tom, or Co-Pilot is they are add-ons. Not every person who owns a smartphone (and I'm one) want's to go out and purchase an app for a smartphone that has less capabilities than a dedicated GPS unit. I may consider an app on my smartphone when it can be as easily modified as my dedicated GPS unit through the addition of custom POI locations, stored routes and trip planning. But until then, the available navigation applications on a smartphone will always reside in the "if desperate" list of options for me.

Agreed 100%

The only feature I love on my smartphone is the traffic info on Google Maps. The info is current AND down to the street I'm on. I'm a diehard Garmin user for many years and currently I don't see myself switching to a smartphone but who knows what the future will hold.

I love the larger 5" to 7" screen of a Garmin than a small (comparatively speaking) screen of a GPS.

Most cell phones use AGPS - which is a triangulation of 3 cell towers to figure out your location. If the coordinates and elevation are incorrect for just one of the towers. Your location will be wrong.

Having a GPS locked on to 8-12 satellites with an accuracy of 10 feet can't be beat.

In a soon hands free market - holding a cell phone will be a violation.

AGPS is used to obtain a quick location until the satellite signal has stabilized in an outdoor setting or is used to provide an approximate location when the unit is located indoors and unable to receive signals from the satellite constellation.

Unsold iPhones Pile Up at Leap Wireless

"For Leap Wireless, a big bet on the iPhone is becoming a big headache."

http://live.wsj.com/video/unsold-iphones-pile-up-at-leap-wireless/4D128021-7CCE-44F2-A03E-2E75BC5FF9CA.html?mod=WSJ_article_outbrain&obref=obnetwork#!4D128021-7CCE-44F2-A03E-2E75BC5FF9CA

AAPL stock price right now $434.74 and still falling.

I am not an Apple basher, I intend to just report the facts.

I think that the smartphones and pads are taking their toll on the GPS specific market. I use my the map apps on my phone when needed in town. When I travel out of town/state I use my Nuvi. But for local stuff, I use the phone.

I totally agree, it's exactly same around here

Update:
Closed today 3/4/13 at $420.05, down $10.42 just today.

I cannot see using a smart phone even if it is as capable as a dash GPS. The form factor alone is my deciding point, and the basic usability (tiny buttons, zooming etc )of phone apps is also a huge factor.

A smartphone is just that, a phone. It is subject to signal issues as well as phone calls. A gps is for navigation and does that job well. all the manufactures have to keep giving the customers they want or they will be relaced with another model that will.

For those who say Garmin needs a product refresh, they have Just released their 2013 lineup on March 15, 2013. Check out all the new nüvis on their website. At least one even has a 7 inch screen! 2797lmt

Garmin is getting lots of competition from cell phones and tablets, but I agree with others who say they still don't work as well as a dedicated GPS.

Unfortunately, the average consumer doesn't know or care much about the difference. They just want something that will get them from point A to point B, and they would prefer to have it for free. Smartphones will continue to get smarter, and tablets will continue to increase in popularity. Why carry a computer, a phone, a camera and a GPS when you can have all of them in one gadget? (Two at most.)

The low end consumer market is just one piece of Garmin's line. Marine and Aviation systems are far more profitable.

But Garmin is now moving into a new business, integrated dashboard systems for cars that leverage the glass screen technology that made them a market leader for aviation.

Would you trust using a Garmin Aviation system

I would hope they were at least beta tested!