Garmin is apparently trying to find out just how much customers would spend for their upcoming nüvifone. One pricing scheme was proposed in a recent Garmin survey:
Now, how likely would you be to buy the Garmin nüvifone (for yourself or as a gift) if offered by AT&T for $499.99 with a two year contract? You would be required to have both a data plan that would include unlimited Internet browsing and unlimited Navigation for $19.99 per month and one of the standard voice rate plans for a monthly fee.
If Garmin goes with the USD$499.99 price point, it would make the nüvifone more expensive than the iPhone. It seems pretty expensive for the debut phone from a company just entering the handset market but just remember how well the iPhone did on its expensive debut.
So far, we know that the nüvifone will come with a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, 3.5G connectivity (specific bands not disclosed although the survey does suggest North American bands will be supported if it comes to AT&T), built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, and a digital camera. It will run on Garmin’s own operating system. On the software side, it will have a web browser, email and IM clients, Google local search, a media player and a number of preloaded maps.
The Garmin nüvifone should be available in the third quarter of 2008. Pricing information was not announced.