Rumor- Microsoft to buy Garmin

(spoken like a certain cartoon dog)

Maybe Garmin missed the boat on purpose, knowing this might be in the works.

This small piece copied from the article gives this nuvi owner pause to worry a bit.

"The Microsoft-Garmin acquisition rumor comes just days after Nokia agreed to purchase U.S. mapping provider NAVTEQ for $8.1 billion. Tele Atlas, the only real competition to NAVTEQ, is currently in the process of being acquired by Dutch-based GPS maker TomTom.

Garmin uses NAVTEQ's mapping data on almost all of its GPS units, including the popular nuvi line."

... and wonder what all this could mean. It figures, I do all of my research, painstakingly waded through the GPS waters and felt the best option and bang for my buck was Garmin.

Now, this news...

I sincerely hope this does not occur. Everytime Microsoft buys something, like it did Hotmail and other companies, it turns them to crap.

I can;t beleive Garmin was that short sighted. With 50% of the US market you would think they would have realized the importance of owning their own mapping data. The boneheads over at Garmin must be totally hardware focused. What a shame.

I'm more worried about Nokia buying out NAVTEQ than Microsoft buying out Garmin.

Can you imagine the alternative.

1. Stick a cell phone on the dash for navigation, with its ever-shrinking display, forcing us to make sense out of the labels.

2. Or just as bad, having to stick a device the size of a decent GPS unit on our heads for a simple phone call, reminding us of the brick-phone days.

Sounds to me that the Evil Empire is ready to strike again!

I hope not also. My Nuvi is very good, not sure what will happen if Micro gets involved.

Every time it recalculates a route, we can enjoy a lovely Blue Screen of Death that Microsoft is famous for.

This is not good news unless they plan to let Garmin operate independently which I don't think is likely.

I cannot stand Microsoft but give them credit for understanding and planning for the future. There is not one person that has looked at my Nuvi that did not appreciate its value.

I think Investor Relations at Garmin could give us the real skinny regarding the truth to any acquisition rumors. With the contact I've had with different levels of staff and management, they seem to be extremely independent. I can't conceive of Microsoft acquiring what basically is a hardwrae manufacturer.

Have a unit in which you plug-in the phone to allow better viewing and also speaker phone and other services.

you guys are ridiculous. why is it a problem for Garmin if Nokia buys Navteq? what is the problem? it's in writing that nokia won't alter existing relationships that navteq holds. how many of you really, truly think that microsoft COULD buy Garmin? what's keeping Garmin from buying Nokia? know of any companies out there that have ZERO debt like Garmin? God, they must be some boneheads to be able to have NO DEBT what-so-ever, huh? I think that we all have no idea what is going on.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouths shut- old saying said by someone long forgotten

So we'll become free testers for them now.

Microsoft DID buy Garmin? Would that mean I'll have to push "Start" to enter where I am, and then push "Start" to enter where I want to end up?

And if you forward all of your POI's to 20 people in the next 10 minutes, Bill Gates will dance across the screen of your Garmin and then you will get a check for $10,000 in the mail from Microsoft.

I don't know if its good or bad,
my zumo never locks up.
my XP, which i could be so lucky

I think some of the fears of MS taking over Garmin are summed up in this phony ad for the "ZunePhone" or Microsoft's answer to the iPhone:

ZunePhone Ad

Here's another slant on why Microsoft and Garmin may want to get married!

http://www.informationweek.com

RT

Thanks RT. The discussion comments are also interesting.

Thanks RT. The discussion comments are also interesting.

Garmin has a market cap of approximately 24 billion, that is roughly 50% of Bill Gates personal net worth. There is no question Microsoft could pull the deal off. The big question is does it make financial sense for them to do so. Maybe yes, maybe no. It will take a bit more than my limited number crunching ability to answer that question. That said I would not be at all surprised if the deal makes financial sense and comes to pass.