Navigation That Makes Sense of Life’s Twists and Turns

Garmin-Asus Announces the A50, Launching Exclusively with Optus

Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), and ASUSTeK® Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), and Optus today announced a smartphone designed for those looking for a true ‘all-in-one’ navigation experience to help make sense of life’s twists and turns. The Garmin-Asus A50, available exclusively in Australia to Optus customers from today, is designed to provide a user-friendly, intuitive and consistent mobile navigation experience for consumers.

The Garmin-Asus A50 brings together the power of the Android operating system with on-board industry-leading Garmin navigation. This smartphone, available on the Optus Mobile Dual Band network, which now provides 3G services to over 96 percent of the Australian population, integrates location information across a number of phone features meaning the device is ready to take you where you need to go at a moment’s notice.

“The A50 from Garmin-Asus easily integrates navigation into the features of a smartphone that everyone has come to take for granted, so you don’t need to compromise one for the other,” said Matt DeMoss, national sales and marketing manager, Garmin Australasia. “Whether you want to navigate from a text message, geotagged photo or image, website or email, no navigation challenge is too hard for the Garmin-Asus A50.”

Austin R. Bryan, Marketing Director, Optus Consumer said, “Partnering with Garmin to launch the A10 and now the A50 to the Australian market is another example of Optus driving to get the latest and greatest smartphones into our customers’ hands first. Navigation systems are increasingly becoming a vital personal and business tool, combined with Optus’ generous talk, text and mobile Internet allowances, the A50 will help our customers to get on with their daily tasks quickly and efficiently.”

Unique in ticking the boxes for a top of the range smartphone as well as excelling at mobile navigation, the Garmin-Asus A50’s large and bright 3.5 inch display gives you a clear view of all the integrated Google™ mobile services available. With one-click access to Google Search™ by voice, Google Maps™, Gmail™, YouTube™, calendar, contacts and Android Market™, the Garmin-Asus A50 is one of the most complete Android-based smartphones available in Australia to date.

Other essential smartphone features available on the Garmin-Asus A50 include a multi-touch webkit browser, document viewers for Microsoft office and PDF documents, an advanced music player, and three-megapixel autofocus camera. The feature set, on top of advanced mobile navigation, makes the Garmin-Asus A50 a companion that will help make sense of the day’s tasks.

The Garmin-Asus A50 delivers on the promise of true in-car quality navigation in a mobile device. Including a full in-car mount and car charger, this smartphone is the first device in Australia to offer photoReal™ Junction View and is ideal for use on the dash of your car and when on foot. Garmin’s heritage of quality navigation devices means that this device rises to the occasion whenever you need to get from a to b, without the need to rely on external accessories or other subscription services.

Making it even more of a life companion, the Garmin-Asus A50 includes several Optus mobile services such as voice-activated 124 ‘Yes’ local search, Optus Video, preloaded social networking apps like Facebook, Mobile TV and the Optus Games store.

Available in Optus stores from today and online from 2 August. Competitively priced, the Garmin-Asus A50 is available to consumers for $0 Upfront on the ‘yes’ Social $49 plan over 24 months# and to small business customers for $0 Upfront on the ‘yes’ Business Complete Max $49 plan over 24 months#.

The A50 is the second navigation-centric smartphone available from Garmin-Asus, joining the A10 launched last month in Australia. Both devices are designed with user friendliness and reliability in mind, giving you the ability to take an in-car quality navigation device with you wherever you go.

Optus Terms and Conditions:

With a Dual Band (2100/900MHz) handset, coverage in Optus Dual Band areas. For details, see www.optus.com.au/coverage.

#Cancellation fees apply. Minimum total cost for ‘yes’ Social $49 Plan is $1,176, for the ‘yes’ Business Complete Max $49 Plan is $1,176.

About Garmin-Asus

Garmin-Asus is a co-branded strategic alliance that enables Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to combine their complementary resources to develop world class LBS-centric mobile phones.

About Garmin Ltd.

The global leader in satellite navigation, Garmin Ltd. and its subsidiaries have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold navigation, communication and information devices and applications since 1989 – most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin’s products serve automotive, mobile, wireless, outdoor recreation, marine, aviation, and OEM applications. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at www.garmin.com/pressroom or contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200.

About ASUS

ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek’s “InfoTech 100”, and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years. ASUS was also selected by the Wall Street Journal Asia as No.1 in quality and service.

ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Garmin is a registered trademark of Garmin Ltd. Android, Google, Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Android Market are trademarks of Google, Inc. All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

About Optus

Optus is an Australian leader in integrated communications serving over eight million customers each day. The company specialises in a broad range of communications services including mobile, local, national and long distance telephony, business network services, Internet and satellite services an subscription television. For more information, please visit www.optus.com.au.

Notice on Forward-Looking Statements:

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 26, 2009, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). Copies of these filings are available at www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

 

Contacts

Garmin-AsusAndres Lopez-Varela, +61 2 9994 [email protected] Loggie, +61 2 9994 [email protected] Quinn, +61 2 8082 7850Optus Corporate Affairs