Garmin in partnership with ASUS is close to launching a new Nuvifone mobile phone with the Company set to have talks with carriers in Australia.

 the new phone thast is currently being tested in Taiwan and with carriers in Germany has built in GPS and mapping capabilities and is designed to be both a phone system and mapping device for use in a motor vehicle or boat.

Garmin who reported a 37% drop in profits said that the new phone which is built on a Google Android platform will be released in Europe in the first half of the year and the U.S. this year. The earliest that the device could be launched in Australia is mid 2010.

The company reported earnings of $161.9 million, a drop of 37 percent from the same period the year before, on a sales decline of 27 percent.