International Investing

Bloomberg’s analysis is spot on. Over time neither will survive as standalone entities:

Consumers also will find navigation systems available in more new cars, giving them little reason to pay $250 or more for units from Garmin or TomTom, said consultant Blair Swedeen.

“They are getting squeezed from both sides,” said Swedeen, a principal at Partenza Consulting in San Francisco, which advises navigation companies. “Competition is inevitably going to drive down margins and commoditize standalone hardware.”

Just as cell phones crushed the electronic organizers made popular by Palm Inc., they’ll probably end the boom that has driven personal GPS sales to a 20 percent rise this year, said Canalys researcher Chris Jones in Reading, England.