Received this Press Release from Garmin-Asus. Was invited to go but not able to make it. Anyway, here is the information. Availabilityfrom 27th March 2010, Singapore, via M1 and StarHub, and all authorized resellers at retail Price of $638 (including GST). Consumers who purchase a Garmin-M10 smart phone between 27 Mar to 2 May 2010 are entitled to buy a car kit at a discounted price of $65. The car kit retails at $78.
Garmin-Asus lets you to navigate work and life with the M10
A New Smart3 Era Begins – Smart Navigation, Smart Phone, Smart Lifestyle
Singapore, 24 March 2010 — Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), and ASUSTeK® Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), today announced the Garmin-Asus M10, a full-touch, all-in-one smart phone powered by Tele Atlas maps solutions and Windows Mobile 6.5.3, from Microsoft Corp. The M10 keeps professionals connected with business and personal contacts, email, calendar and IM, in addition to featuring preloaded mobile navigation and maps from Garmin and Tele Atlas. The M10 is expected to be available through Singapore in late March 2010 with competitive pricing.
“The Garmin-Asus M10 is our answer to people’s need for work-life balance. The M10 runs Windows® Mobile, making it the ideal smart phone for business use. World’s best Garmin technology with pre-loaded Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei maps ensure a hassle free drive for all while its comprehensive social networking features and connected services enable users to lead a truly smart lifestyle. The M10 is the phone for the new Smart3 era – smart phone, smart navigation, smart lifestyle.” said Benson Lin, Vice President and General Manager of ASUS’ Personal Mobile Devices Business Unit, Handheld Business Group.
“The Garmin-Asus M10 is a powerful time-saving tool that is designed for anyone who is tired of carrying numerous devices and instead wants to carry one device that gives them many of the same features found on a stand-alone phone, laptop, portable navigation devices (PND) and digital camera,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO.
‘Click and Go’ Smart Navigation
Central to the M10’s user experience is navigation, built upon highly accurate and updated Tele Atlas map information. True to its dedication to premium navigation, time to first fix for the M10 takes a mere 33 seconds*. User can also multitask by making calls during navigation, which adds to an exceptionally intuitive and smooth navigation experience. To further enhance ease of use, navigation functions are linked to frequently used applications such as calendar, contacts, email, internet browser, and messaging.
The M10 comes with advanced navigation features equivalent to a high-end Garmin 1460 portable navigation device (PND) to deliver powerful, highly accurate turn-by-turn directions and ensuring drivers have the exact location of thousands of points of interest (POIs) that make it easier to find the nearest hotels, stores, petrol stations, restaurants and more. The M10 also comes with advanced display features such as 2D City Maps, text to speech, lane guidance and junction view information, which provide richer maps to more closely reflect end users’ surroundings, help guide drivers to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit and realistically displays road signs.
“Singapore is a key market for navigation as the users here are very savvy and require the latest and most innovative features. The maps and location content available for Singapore are highly detailed, covering 5,408km of roads, and deliver powerful navigation features for users of portable navigation devices (PNDs). ” said Rajive Chandra, Tele Atlas Director of Sales and Marketing, APAC. “Navigation and location based services and applications are seeing tremendous interest from consumers due to the ubiquity of powerful smart phones such as the Garmin Asus M10. Tele Atlas is proud to contribute to this device and the robust navigation experience which it offers.”
A Premium Smart Phone
Garmin-Asus M10 is the first smart phone to come with Windows® Mobile 6.5.3, the latest operating system with features upgrades that enhance the user experience and provides access to Windows Marketplace for Mobile, enabling a vast number of Windows phone applications to be downloaded.
“The Garmin-Asus M10 demonstrates our commitment to deliver an outstanding experience to anyone looking to do more every day, at work and at play. We’re very excited to welcome a new device from Garmin-Asus to the Windows Phones family,” said Natasha Kwan, general manager for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business in Asia. “Microsoft continues to listen to what people want and will collaborate closely with partners to push the boundaries of what is possible.”
The M10 has a sleek design with a 3.5-inch WVGA display and a finger-friendly user interface. The Billboard feature displays the most important information so users can review all at one glance. An intuitive 3D Task Manager also allows users to switch easily between running applications. Keeping the phone responsive and the navigation smooth are 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM, while 4GB eMMC Flash memory provides ample storage for multimedia and data.
The M10 is equipped with a 1500 mAh battery for hours of uninterrupted use, as well as a full QWERTY soft keyboard for speedy text input. HSDPA wireless connectivity and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) ensure that messages are sent and received quickly. In addition, the M10 can be synched to Microsoft Exchange® so that contacts, calendars and emails are always available and secure.
Ushering in a Smart Lifestyle
Besides being the best cost performance Windows® Mobile smart phone, the Garmin-Asus M10 boasts a range of social capabilities, including access to Facebook™ and Picasa Web Albums™. It also comes with an easy to use click & search function along with real-time information when connected such as restaurant guide, weather, transit, movie times, flight status and more at users’ fingertips. In addition, the M10 is equipped with a high performance 5 mega-pixel camera that automatically geo-tags photos so that users will always know where they were taken and can easily share them with friends via built-in social networking applications.
Availability: 27th March 2010, Singapore, via M1 and StarHub, and all authorized resellers
Retail Price: $638 (including GST)
Consumers who purchase a Garmin-M10 smart phone between 27 Mar to 2 May 2010 are entitled to buy a car kit at a discounted price of $65. The car kit retails at $78.
Media Contact: Bellen Tan • DID: +65 6622 8878 • Mobile: +65 8201 4508 • bellen_tan@asus.com
*Depends on network environment and phone usage.
About Garmin-Asus
Garmin-Asus is a co-branded strategic alliance that enables Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to combine their complementary resources to develop world class LBS-centric mobile phones.
About Garmin Ltd.
The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at www.garmin.com/pressroom or contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200.
About ASUS
ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era, with an extensive product portfolio that includes notebooks, netbooks, motherboards, graphics cards, displays, optical drives, desktop PCs, servers, wireless solutions, mobile phones and networking devices. Driven by innovation and committed to quality, ASUS designs and manufactures products that perfectly meet the needs of today’s digital home, office and person. ASUS won 3,268 awards in 2009, and is widely credited with revolutionizing the PC industry with the Eee PC™. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among BusinessWeek’s InfoTech 100, and has been on the listing for 12 consecutive years.
ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Garmin and nüvi are registered trademarks, and nüvifone is a trademark, of Garmin Ltd.All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
About Tele Atlas
Tele Atlas is the licensing business unit of TomTom N.V. (AEX: TOM2), the world’s leading provider of location and navigation solutions. Tele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power some of the world’s most essential navigation, location-based services (LBS) and enterprises. Through a combination of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers digital map coverage of more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Tele Atlas maps rate highest in terms of quality and reliability in certified tests. They are updated daily with the insight of a community of millions of GPS system users worldwide, who along with the company’s unmatched network of sources help to track and validate changes in real time. For more information, visit www.teleatlas.com . Follow Tele Atlas on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TeleAtlas or become a fan at www.facebook.com/TeleAtlas
Notice on forward-looking statements:
This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. All statements regarding the company’s future product introductions are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 27, 2008, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of Garmin’s Form 10-K can be downloaded at www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
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