Will Telematics Data Drive n?vi Sales for Garmin?

I’ve been skeptical about the possible success of Garmin’s nüvi phone. I mean, why do we need another company selling cell phones just for navigation? Just a few days ago I was passing through Hartsfield-Atlanta airport and I saw a huge ad for the nüvi with a tagline that read "For your location-based life." Wow, really, a location-based life?" Do I have a location-based life? Well, that’s a topics for another editorial.

Anyway, Garmin released a press announcement today about ecoRoute hd, a device that installs onto the nüvi that will monitor all kinds of telematics data for your car such as the standard gas mileage data but also intake manifold pressure, throttle position, and your carbon footprint. Sounds like the stuff a truck driver would want and I wondered if this was the kind of value-added app that might drive sales of the nüvi. I think this has some potential but I’m still skeptical. I’ve embedded a short video from Garmin below so you can decide.