Garmin Asus M20 heading to AT&T hints exec

EXCLUSIVE: Officially launched in Taiwan and Hong Kong today

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19 August 2009 15:35 GMT / By Lars-Göran Nilsson

The Garmin Asus M20 in likely to come to AT&T in the US later this year Pocket-lint has learnt following an informal chat with executives at the launch of the new handset come GPS in Taipei.

The M20 launched on the local mobile network provider CHT (Chunghwa Telecom) and Hong Kong on Wednesday, albeit Asus was very quiet about other markets.

However, a quick chat with a representative for Garmin Asus after the press conference revealed that the M20 is destined for AT&T in the US.

Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get any information about possible European launch partners, nor would the person we talked to divulge any specific launch timeline, although the M20 will be launched on a market by market schedule.

Garmin Asus is also splitting the various markets between them in terms of distribution we have learnt, so in markets where Garmin has a strong brand and presence, Garmin will be marketing and distribute the devices (such as Western Europe and the US), while in markets where Asus has bigger presence (such as Asia and Eastern Europe), Asus will handle the marketing and distribution.

Garmin Asus has also changed the customer focus from the G60 that was pushed as a PND (Personal Navigation Device) with added phone and internet functionality, whereas the M20 is first and foremost a Smartphone, but with highly integrated navigation functionality.

The Garmin Asus M20 is currently retailing in Taiwan for about NT$17,900 which equates to about £330 or $545, without subsidies.