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You would think that companies making standalone GPS devices would be making bank right now. The devices that never let you get lost when driving are important to many travelers, especially when you don't want to fumble with maps, let alone get lost and waste a bunch of expensive gas getting back on track. Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), one of the leading GPS makers, though, has seen tough times recently. Its shares have declined 56% recently. Why I'm not sure. I do know that it has nothing to do with Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone that's about to be released in a few weeks.

Apple's new 3G iPhone will have embedded GPS, which will make the gadget all the more useful. Regardless, though, will consumers be using their iPhones as replacements for full GPS devices in all those vehicles? Unless there is a decent vehicle mount kit available, it's hard to believe so. The iPhone does have the best chance at displacing more units from Garmin and other GPS makers like TomTom in the car navigation arena, but the entire GPS experience is what some folks probably forget about.

If you've ever used a GPS navigation program installed on a normal cellphone or smartphone, does it works seamlessly like a standalone product? Can you take and make calls while the GPS continues working in the background, giving you all those voice directions? What makes standalone GPS devices so valuable is that they work even when we're multitasking with phone calls. That's the kicker: the first time you miss a direction by voice because you're busy chatting on the phone, a GPS solution on top of a cellphone -- at least for driving purposes -- would become useless to the average consumer. I doubt Apple's upcoming solution will be this drab, but I continue to see a bright future for standalone GPS device manufacturers (although profits will continue to dwindle). Apple, as always, is not the only game in town. It will still be big for non-driving GPS uses, though.

Apple could create headaches for Garmin and TomTom originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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