Conference calls for company quarterly reports are usually dull, but this week, Garmin's call highlighted the state of the GPS market in these turbulent times, and shed some light on the company's approach to the emerging competitive threat from smartphones. Sales in the automotive and aviation segments decreased in the third quarter, but sales of fitness GPS devices, such as the Garmin Forerunner and Edge, increased 11 percent, a real bright spot for the company. Garmin representatives laid out their case for dedicated personal navigation devices over smartphones, and said there is no Garmin standalone smartphone app in the works. Read on for more. Image © Garmin

GPS has transformed private aviation, putting powerful navigation, airport, and safety information at the pilot's fingertips. Garmin makes the most popular portable aviation GPS models by far, and this week introduces a brand new series that looks much like the well-known nuvi car line, but is fully loaded for aviation use as well. The aera series (models 500, 510, 550, 560) may be used in a plane, or for auto travel.  Very handy for the pilot, and it cuts down on the amount of equipment needed for a plane-car trip. Pilots will want to get into the technical specs for these new models, which range in price from $875 to $2,199. Image © Garmin

A more in-depth look at the new Motorola-Verizon Droid smartphone and its free Google Maps Navigation GPS turn-by-turn nav feature. Yes, it has some nice new features, and free is great, but I discuss why it's a game-changer, not a game-ender in the GPS navigation race. Also a few things the breathless early reviews have overlooked, such as the downside of downloading maps on the fly, and a look at the "net cost" of navigation in the smartphone ecosystem. Image © Verizon

Google has been assembling all of the pieces necessary (a huge and costly task) to offer turn-by-turn navigation on mobile platforms for some time. Still, many in the industry were surprised (witness Garmin's steep stock price drop) by Google's announcement of Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 today. This new beta application includes 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance, and automatic rerouting. Google also states this application differentiates itself by taking full advantage of mobile devices' always-on Internet connectivity. Add search by voice, and street view, and you have a powerful package. Keep in mind, however, that it runs only on mobile phones and devices running the Android 2.0 operating system. This OS will become more common (first phone running it is the Droid from Verizon), but you won't find it on the Apple iPhone, for example. Today's New York Times story on the announcement includes some good analysis, and I'll be providing more information and analysis on the new app here.