Well, here’s something.
This morning, Swiss satellite navigation company Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) announced it acquired the assets of a private South African company called iKubu.
IKubu was, according to Garmin, in the “final stages of developing… low-energy bike radar… giving the cyclist the speed and distance of vehicles that are approaching from behind.”
While automobiles continue to get smarter with video, laser, and radar collision detection in the front and sides of vehicles, human-powered vehicles aren’t getting equal treatment.
IKubu was working on augmenting cyclists’ vision by putting eyes in the back of their heads.
Now, that endeavor belongs to Garmin.
Not Just GPS
After years of being kept under military regulations, global positioning technology became available to civilians in the mid-2000s.
The first modern GPS satellite launched in 2005 and set off a tidal wave of consumer GPS hardware. It was during this time that consumer-grade standalone satellite navigation systems became mainstream.
From the winter of 2006 to the winter of 2008, Garmin stock massively spiked. At the beginning of the run, GRMN was trading at around $28; at its peak in September 2007, it was trading at $119.
That massive value wasn’t sustainable, as smartphones equipped with GPS receivers proceeded to devour the general PND (personal navigation device) market over the next couple of years.
However, Garmin has seen its share price grow steadily over the last three years.
In January 2013, GRMN was trading in the high $30s. One year ago today, it was trading at $46.31. Yesterday, it closed at $51.54.
What’s the secret?
After smartphones ate up the PND business, former leaders in the space regrouped into their own different niches. Dutch navigation company TomTom NV (OTC: TMOAF), for example, concentrated on offering aftermarket automotive GPS systems with tons of plug-ins and customizable “personalities.” For an additional charge, users can download celebrity and novelty voices for their systems.
Magellan Navigation, meanwhile, put a strong emphasis on in-car vision systems.
Garmin developed a strong focus on sports, health, and fitness, and in the last couple of years, it has become a major competitor in the wearables market in addition to its cachet in sports navigation units.
With the acquisition of iKubu, it’s going in an exciting new direction: backwards.
Backtracker
iKubu, which developed radar and computer vision systems, crafted a device that is a small work of genius.
It’s called the Backtracker, and it hides a tiny short-range radar transceiver inside the body of one of those ubiquitous blinking red lights you see bikers and joggers wearing.
It identifies approaching vehicles at up to 140 meters (150 yards/460 feet) and at speeds of up to 100 mph, and it communicates threat information to a small handlebar-mounted meter for the rider.
The meter on the handlebars lights up according to distance and speed of the approaching car. The pulse on the blinking light then changes its blink frequency based upon the proximity of the car.
The device effectively communicates radar information to both the cyclist and the motorist at the same time.
It’s got an eight-hour battery life, communicates with other devices via Bluetooth, and weighs just 1.76 ounces.
In mid-2014, the company turned to crowdfunding to try to raise the $226,000 to bring the device into production. It attracted 476 backers and only reached half of its goal by September 2014.
That failed crowdfunding campaign turned into a great opportunity for both iKubu and Garmin.
In a public statement today, managing director of iKubu Franz Struwig said, “Garmin gives us the resources to develop, bring to market, and showcase our products that we otherwise would not have.”
The financial aspects of the deal were not disclosed, but most of iKubu’s employees will become employees at Garmin‘s South African research and development center.
Good Investing,
Tim Conneally
For the last seven years, Tim Conneally has covered the world of mobile and wireless technology, enterprise software, network hardware, and next generation consumer technology. Tim has previously written for long-running software news outlet Betanews and for financial media powerhouse Forbes.
