Garmin Fenix – Battlelines Start To Get Drawn

My recent thoughts on 2017 were that it was going to be the ‘Year of the Garmin’.

2017 will be a series of battles as many of the industry giants go head-to-head across various markets. This quick post is just a 5-minute heads-up of some Samsung youtube videos (linked below)

From recent leaks you will KNOW that Garmin are going to come out with all guns blazing and with a fearsome arsenal and you can pretty much guess where the firepower will be targeted.

You will see from some of the videos, below, that Samsung (Gear S3) is clearly thinking it can be a player in the ‘Fenix front’. One of the battles will be with the features of Samsung’s Tizen that encroach on the Fenix-theatre –  I don’t think Tizen will ultimately win this battle. They will have an awesome screen/display but perhaps less awesome ruggedness and navigational features?

Suunto’s SPARTAN has been a mere 2016 skirmish. Their battle with Garmin may well start as the Northern Hemisphere warms up in 2017. Can they carve out and retain a piece of strategically important territory? Today’s announcement of a 3 year warranty for 2016 purchasers is a nice bit of propaganda showing that they are in for the long game.

The Sports-Fitness Front is where AndroidWear is digging its trenches. Their backer, Google, might be the world’s tech super power but they have often been fickle in the battles they have choosen in recent years (Pixate for one). They know when to beat a hasty retreat. Longterm, I don’t think they will have to retreat this time round – I could be wrong but I have visions of an ever-expanding Google empire.

The winner of the war won’t be known for years to come.

Your war-related analogies eagerly awaited 🙂 no doubt vastly better than mine.

It’s a good written analogy and to be clear I don’t like real wars.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5Xdvi7g8BdA

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3fi4a45L0kk

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ikgH-AJfRSg

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZbJjs2HTOP0