Harman International (HAR), the makers for premium audio equipment (Harmon Kardon), took at 37% wallop to their stock price today because it slashed its fiscal 2008 earnings guidance citing recent "significant pricing pressure" on in-car GPS devices, according to the Wall Street Journal. Its portable navigation devices (PND) sell in the $200-$350 range but I've never reviewed one nor have seen reviews of these units. I've only associated Harman Kardon with great audio...not PNDs. Now that every electronics manufacturer is jumping into the fray, it is not surprising to see a shake out among those offering the units which are sure to incur ever increasing price  pressure. However, Garmin (GRMN) seems unfazed by the blood bath it and other PND manufacturers are taking in the stock market (its stock price has fallen from a high of $120 to $70 at today's close) by going upscale and announcing the nuvi 880 for about $1000. That's a tough sell in a marketing looking for cheaper devices.

Last week, perhaps lost in translation, was a press release from Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) that announced the purchase of two divisions from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) that includes geospatial services operation, aka MDA Federal, for $1.325 (CDN) billion. MDA Federal has 1900 employees and includes assets from the acquisition of Earth Satellite Corporation (Earthsat). An investor podcast is available for rebroadcast. According to the podcast, ATK is looking to improve its ability to serve US Department of Defense contracts.

Openwave (OPWV) announced today that its CFO was leaving the company and the reaction from stockholders sent the shares down 25% in early trading. Openwave supports a variety of mobile location-based applications for companies like Sprint. On June 1, the stock was floating just around $10 per share. Today, it's treading water at around $1.70.