The Garmin brand has been famous for some time now for being the leading company in the GPS industry and the news of an Android Garmin handset set to come in 2009 will surely linger in users’ minds until the project is complete and the device is for sale. In any case, the combination between technologies is already getting fans to save money.

Since the Garmin Nuvifone, which should have already been on the market for months now, but which has been delayed over and over again, users’ confidence in the GPS-focused company reached a considerably low level. This piece of news however, if it comes true, even later than expected, will restore Garmin its former god-like status.

Considering the fact that the company had been trying to breach the mobile market for more than a year when it first announced the Nuvifone, and also knowing that it has already joined the Open Handset Alliance, such a development could have been predicted quite easily. Therefore, now that we think about it, the Garmin Android phone is actually the most logical and profitable move the company could undergo.

Tony An, Garmin’s Asia Pacific marketing director declared, regarding the intentions of the company, “Garmin will launch Nuvifone, its first GPS-enabled handset, in the Taiwan market in the second quarter of 2009[...]Garmin also plans to launch self-developed Android handsets in the second half of 2009, with production to be outsourced.”

Even though it may seems pretty clear, a couple of questions now emerge: first, who will Garmin go to for the actual building of this phone? And second, but just as important, will the GPS system included on this Android-operated device reach the market on its own as well?

Actually, the first question kind of answers itself, since the Nuvifone is already tied to Asus and, even more relevant, since the two companies entered the OHA together, on the same day. Therefore, most likely, Asus will be handling the Android device as well.

As regards the second question, things get a bit more complicated, since at this point no claims have been made on the subject. Sure, most would argue that the company will run the numbers and figure out which alternative is more profitable. But even here, more questions can be safely asked, regarding the moment when the GPS will reach the market on its own, should such an event development take place. In any case, most certainly, the company does not want to disappoint in any way, so chances are that it will release the same GPS system the Android phone will feature, on its own, at least for the older Android-run devices, so that no users would feel left out.

Even though, as you've already read, the phone has been announced just for Taiwan and Asia, considering Garmin's expectations and its global monopoly, again, chances point towards a worldwide market release of the Garmin Android phone when the time comes.