Today, web search giant Google, and GPS manufacturer Garmin, announced a new partnership and a new line of information-enhanced products.
In a press release today at the Googleplex in Mountain View, Google founder Larry Page and Garmin CEO Min Kao gave details of the new partnership, and hints about the new products.
Google will provide geographically-relevant information to users of the new Garmin Globe product line. The Garmin Globe products will include still and video capture capability. The new Google widgets aboard the Globe product will use transmitted GPS data, combined with state-of-the-art image recognition software, to provide relevant information about objects in the field of view of the Garmin device.
Page was quoted as saying, “The new partnership and products will create entirely new uses for both GPS devices and internet search. We are hoping to see whole new uses for intelligent GPS devices this year and next.”
When asked whether this new software platform was to be open source, Page replied, “Yes, but third parties will have to wait until early 2009 for the release. This is to give the partnership a fair head-start. We feel this is a fair compromise use of the privately developed software. No open source software has been 'closed' in doing this.”
The new Garmin Globe products will be hitting the shelves as early as Fall 2008.
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