Garmin 2008 Annual Report Download - page 27

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5
Overview of the Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a worldwide navigation system which enables the precise determination
of geographic location using established satellite technology. The system consists of a constellation of orbiting
satellites. The satellites and their ground control and monitoring stations are maintained and operated by the United
States Department of Defense, which maintains an ongoing satellite replenishment program to ensure continuous
global system coverage. Access to the system is provided free of charge by the U.S. government.
Prior to May 2000, the U.S. Department of Defense intentionally degraded the accuracy of civilian GPS
signals in a process known as Selective Availability (‘‘SA’’) for national security purposes. SA variably degraded
GPS position accuracy to a radius of 100 meters. On May 2, 2000, the U.S. Department of Defense discontinued SA.
In a presidential policy statement issued in December 2004, the Bush administration indicated that the U.S. does not
intend to implement SA again and is committed to preventing hostile use of GPS through regional denial of service,
minimizing the impact to peaceful users. With SA removed, a GPS receiver can calculate its position to an accuracy
of approximately 10 meters or less, enhancing the utility of GPS for most applications.
The accuracy and utility of GPS can be enhanced through augmentation techniques which compute any
remaining errors in the signal and broadcast these corrections to a GPS device. The Federal Aviation Administration
(“FAA”) has developed a Wide Area Augmentation System (‘‘WAAS’’) comprising ground reference stations and
additional satellites that improve the accuracy of GPS positioning available in the United States and portions of
Canada and Mexico to approximately 3 meters. WAAS supports the use of GPS as the primary means of enroute,
terminal and approach navigation for aviation in the United States. The increased accuracy offered by WAAS also
enhances the utility of WAAS-enabled GPS receivers for consumer applications. The FAA announced on July 11,
2003 that the WAAS system had achieved initial operating capability and that the system was available for
instrument flight use with appropriately certified avionics equipment. Since that time, the FAA has installed
additional ground reference stations and has launched additional WAAS satellites.
Recent Developments in the Company’s Business
Since the inception of its business, Garmin has delivered over 48 million products, which includes the
delivery of 16.9 million products during 2008.
Automotive/Mobile Product Introductions
Garmin introduced a number of new versions of Garmin’s popular nüvi® personal navigation device (PND)
product line in 2008, including the nüvi 880, a premium PND which features speech recognition and MSN® Direct
services, the nüvi 780 with MSN® Direct services, the nüvi 260W a value-priced PND that speaks street names and
has a 4.3” wide screen, the nüvi 2x5 series with Bluetooth® wireless technology for hands-free calling and a
bundled subscription to traffic alerts and the nüvi 7x5 series with Lane Assist which depicts road signs and provides
guidance to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit. Also in 2008, Garmin introduced the multi-mode nüvi
500 series that combine PND functionality with outdoor and marine navigation capabilities.
Also in 2008, Garmin announced the nüvifoneTM a touchscreen smartphone that integrates a mobile phone,
web browser and PND. The nüvifone is expected to be released in the first half of 2009.
Outdoor/ Fitness Product Introductions
Garmin expanded its Forerunner® line of products for the fitness market with the Forerunner 405, a
compact-sized, wrist-worn GPS-enabled fitness device that allows runners to track their speed, distance, heart rate
and location, access their training history or challenge a Virtual Partner™ and automatically upload their data
wirelessly to a personal computer. To help promote its full line of fitness products, Garmin entered into a
sponsorship agreement with the Slipstream Sports cycling team to become the lead sponsor of the team, which is
now known as Team Garmin-Slipstream.