One of the CIQ Summit headlines is
showcasing of some new CIQ2.4 apps like Yelp, Trailforks, GU and MySwimPro.
Broadly speaking, CIQ covers apps and additional functionality for: health and fitness wearables, cycling computers and also hand-held devices.There have been about 54million CIQ downloads which means that DWMAP accounts for about 1% of the total; bringing mapping to devices that don’t have maps!!!
About 8 million devices have received the apps, meaning there are on average about 7 apps per device, with probably some deleted.
The big news is the new CIQ.
The new iteration of CIQ that follows CIQ2.4 is the aptly named CIQ3. There look to be 3 notable areas of new stuff that will come from that:
- Working with an expanded notification system;
- Integrating Garmin’s maps into apps; and
- Opening up the audio platform.
Integrating maps into apps might need to be approached with caution. It sounds like a recipe for errant apps to quickly overload a watch’s capability.
The opening of the audio platform essentially means that music providers can plug their ‘ecosystem’ into that of Garmin. There is always a techy mantra that ‘openness is good’. But in this case I think it’s a REALLY sensible move for Garmin.
I’ve been looking at Music on running devices in the round over recent months. What stands out the most is that exclusive licencing deals seem to limit one watch manufacturer to one music service. There are exceptions to that; but that is the broad thrust of where things are.
Best Running Watch 2021 | Top 10 Garmin, Apple, Fitbit, Polar Comparison
Longer term this seem VERY risky as there are too many music providers in the marketplace in a relatively low-charging industry that relies on having large numbers of subscribers. Combine that with cash-rich investors who are willing to take a punt and we have the potential for heavily indebted companies – eg iHeartRadio recently filed for Ch.11 bankruptcy protection – they are $20billion in debt (Source: Forbes). I’m sure there are ways of spinning a $20bn debt as being ‘not too bad‘ but my guess would be that they won’t be here in 5 years’ time.
On the one hand, Garmin have made a risky tie-up with iHeartRadio but on the other hand their platform will allow other audio providers to operate alongside them in the future.
To date, Garmin don’t seem interested in making direct revenues from app sales, although I suspect that will come. The current state of affairs means that Garmin just wants to sell hardware with a free app environment and a music provider can write a free app that front-ends a premium service. Everyone’s happy.
Currently Supported Devices For CIQ 3.0
CIQ3 of course will soon bring us knowledge of what devices are compatible with it. So; soon we can see what devices exist now that will not support CIQ3 and hence will need to be replaced before the end of 2019ish. As you can see, on the chart below, it’s just the Forerunner 230/235 that needs replacing currently. The image is a little out-of-date and excludes, for example, the Forerunner 645 Music, Edge 130, Tactix Charlie and 520plus.
It looks like currently supported devices for CIQ3 (see comments below) are: the Forerunner 645 / 645 Music; the Fenix 5X; the Edge 1030; the edge 130; the Edge 820; the Edge 520 PLUS (not Edge 520)
However it seems that the following will not support CIQ3: Forerunner 230 (nor v2); Forerunner 235 (nor v2); Forerunner 630; Edge 520; Forerunner 735; Edge1000; and Vivoactive HR
- Presumably the 245 will stand a reasoanble chance of support
- As the 735XT doesn’t support CIQ3 then the 745XT stands a good chance of a 2018 release and support for it. Indeed it’s the prime candidate for a new release based solely on CIQ3 compatability.
In Other News
Also in the news today are a refreshed Garmin 530plus as well as a Garmin Edge 130 that is FAR more interesting than the numbering ‘130’ implies.
Garmin Edge 130, Edge 520 plus, Edge 520 Comparison, Detailed Specs – Not a review
Source: garmin
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The maps could be a big thing for apps. I’d generally rather be running a CIQ app where you (the developer) have full control over the UI vs just data fields in a standard app where you can’t directly get any user input. The problem with a standalone app is you don’t have access to mapping, and there is no way you can replicate the full functionality of a map page with the limited resources available to an app. How useful this is really depends on the implementation. Will it be a map “control” that you can embed on any part of the screen? Can you draw overlays over the map? How much resources will the map control take away from the rest of the app? The other big issue, though, could be stability. Mapping has often been the cause of device crashes.
yes i’m looking at the two MAP apps for the Fitbit versa right now. they are 3rd party apps and both crash the device just when displaying a map of BLE retrieved generic map data from a connected smartphone.
Here are the only 4 devices that currently support CIQ3.0 along with their memory capabilities
https://forums.garmin.com/forum/developers/connect-iq/1336767-ciq-3-0-on-only-4-devices
thank you for that gem of info !! will add in
If these are the only ones that are going to support CIQ3.0 it’s quite the tell from Garmin that every high-end watch going forward from them will be coming with an extended storage and memory.
I like the idea of an expanded notification system as I have come to rely heavily on the watch for incoming calls, emails, texts etc…If they are going to expand that to fine tune things or even to do things like have onboard pre-written responses, I’m fine with that.
The integrated maps though are going to be a disaster. Anytime any company I’ve dealt with gives creators rights to work with a proprietary piece of code or feature it either crashes the product at best or literally bricks the product at worst.
i read the garmin thread and i think those are the ones that are there at the moment and other will follow by the sounds of it. BUT the 230/235/735xt will not (from the garmin developers post)
yes maps will have a good chance to crash stuff…badly. think i said above i am hving precisely that issue on the VERSA right now
Here are the CIQ 3 devices: https://imgur.com/a/agBv2#IyXxHqM
awesome. just what this page needed, i’ll add it. i assume it was from the ciq conference?
Does it mean that device with bigger memory like VA3M and fr645M will be allowed to support on board map if ciq 3.0 is installed?
yes, that is my understanding
And user of F5X or othrt device with on board mapping really need the third party app for mapping?
?