Garmin nuvifone delayed due to 'carrier-specific requirements'

In Garmin's second quarter earnings announcement today, the GPS company said its nuvifone that was anticipated for release this year will be delayed.

The company's iPhone-like hybrid 3G handset and GPS device was originally expected to launch in the third quarter of this year in American markets. It was then gently pushed to a fourth quarter release, which Garmin has now rescheduled for the first half of 2009.

A statement from the company says: "While we had hoped to have carrier launches in the fourth quarter, we have found that meeting some of the carrier-specific requirements will take longer than anticipated."

Garmin has yet to announce which carriers will offer the nuvifone when it is launched, but many are speculating it will be on AT&T in the United States, although T-Mobile is also a candidate. T-Mobile's 3G network is not yet live nationwide, but the coverage could improve by next year.

Which "carrier specific" requirements Garmin could be referring to are currently unclear, but a fully completed nuvifone still has yet to be publicly shown by the company. Early display devices featured an incomplete OS, and more recent prototype devices have completed the interface, but lacked the supremely important GPS and 3G HSDPA data connections.