It’s a Kenwood, no it’s a Garmin

Garmin investors, are probably feeling a little bewildered today, after seeing GPS devices fly off the shelves as one of the hottest items this holiday season, the stock is down double digits this morning on a downgrade from Deutsche Bank. The downgrade can seemingly be summarized in one word: competition.

If you’re a Garmin investor and want to feel a little better, go back and check out this Cnet review of the Kenwood DNX7100… it’s a $1k+ all in one in vehicle unit… and per the reviewers commentary “the GPS is by far the best feature of this system.” The GPS part of the device of course is run by Garmin as a part of their Black Box alternative announced two CES’s a go.

GPS Business News is reporting that it is expecting an announcement soon regarding a more extensive relationship between Kenwood and Garmin that would also include Garmin navigation in future Kenwood systems.

If you’re a Garmin investor, seeing these types of deals develop has to make you feel a little better, knowing that at least some of the “competition” like Kenwood isn’t really competition after all, but a potential sales opportunity… and a shift from a box manufacturer business to an application and software development focus, at least as far as their consumer electronics segments are concerned is probably not a bad thing, particularly for that all important margin.

It all seems a bit reminiscent of Intel in a way, albeit Garmin is a combo of hardware and user interface… can little stickers with “Garmin Inside” be too far away?