Garmin Offers Lifetime Traffic/Nav for Blackberry

By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 5/16/2008

Olathe, Kan. — Garmin is offering BlackBerry users a one-time navigation charge of $99.99 for unlimited use of its voice-prompted directions.

Good for all of North America, the package also gives BlackBerry users access to traffic and weather updates, gas prices and other data. The package is geared to customers who prefer a one-time charge to a monthly fee.

“Garmin is one of the first to offer a one-time purchase navigation package for BlackBerry devices,” said Charles Morse, Garmin’s director of mobile and online marketing. “Having turn-by-turn directions on a BlackBerry is essential to mobile professionals because it takes the stress out of navigating to that important business meeting or child’s soccer game.”

Under the Garmin Mobile package, mapping data reside online and not on the BlackBerry. It requires the user subscribe to a cellular data plan. For those users without embedded GPS in their BlackBerry, an optional GPS sensor is required.