Oct 27, 2010 07:29 GMT  ·  By

Garmin and ASUS have announced officially that their joint venture aimed at the development of mobile phones does no longer exist. No new Garmin-Asus device would be brought to the market, though the two companies would continue to work together in various areas. At the same time, the duo announced officially that they plan on continuing to support the mobile phones they already brought to shelves.

“Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. today announced a strategic decision to alter their current co-branded business model for location-centric mobile handsets,” a press release from the two companies reads.

“The two companies will not introduce any new co-branded handset models going forward, but will continue to sell and support models that have already been introduced to the market.”

However, ASUS will continue to come to the market with new ASUS-branded mobile phones, and it would have Garmin navigation and Location Based Service (LBS) applications pre-loaded on them, the duo announced.

As for Garmin, it plans on expanding its mobile handset application development, and aims at having its solutions delivered to end users via various consumer application stores.

According to a recent article on DigiTimes, Apple's iTunes App Store and RIM's App World are among the software portals that Garmin is targeting with its applications.

The Garmin-Asus strategic alliance was formed back in February 2009, and resulted in the launch of a number of six devices, which are currently available for purchase in various markets around the world, via different carriers.

“Customer support continues to be of utmost importance to Garmin and ASUS, and Garmin-Asus smartphone customers will continue to receive product support, software updates and/or downloads from either Garmin or Asus, depending upon the region,” the two companies announced.

Further details on each company's plans for the future should be made official during their independent third quarter earnings calls. ASUS will make the move on October 28, 2010, while Garmin set it for November 3, 2010.