This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.
After months of declining sales, Garmin International has decided to pull the plug on their handheld GPS units. Garmin announced this at their recent shareholder meeting when they released their Q1 earnings report which fell short of their target.
In a statement released to the press, Garmin Vice President of Consumer Engineering, Dale Fletcher, told reporters that the GPSMAP, Oregon, Montana, Monterra, and eTrex GPS units would be discontinued from manufacturing on July 1st, 2015. They also indicated that they would continue to produce the Dakota model but only in limited quantities.
When asked by the press what brought upon this decision, Fletcher indicated that the rise of smartphone apps and the improved quality of GPS technology in smartphones has caused a significant dip in their sales of handheld devices. He indicated that their automotive market is also having a tough time but hard decisions had to be made to help move the company forward.
Reporters seemed confused as recent studies have shown the number of automotive based GPS units has declined in favour of smartphone navigation apps. When pressed on the subject, Fletcher confessed that smartphone apps were not the real reason for the decision to pull the plug.
It seems Garmin’s unsuccessful attempt to enter the world of geocaching through their OpenCaching program was the real cause. He indicated that since OpenCaching did not succeed as well as they had wanted, it made more sense to simply stop selling any units that could be used for geocaching. He felt that since most geocachers use Garmin units for geocaching, this would be the best way to put an end to the sport completely.
Garmin will be releasing a final firmware update for all handheld devices that will effectively cripple their use. Any units not currently sold, will be donated to the World Oceanographer’s Institute. There the electronics will be re-used to assist with their current underwater basket weaving research.
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