improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article may be written from a fan s point of view rather than a neutral point of view . please clean it up to conform to a higher standard of quality and to make it neutral in tone . june 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message this article has an unclear citation style . the references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation footnoting or external linking . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message garmin ltd garmin logo type public traded as nasdaq grmn s & p 500 component market cap 8.481 billion industry technology founded october 1989 ; 27 years ago 1989 10 as pronav lenexa kansas u.s. founder gary burrell min kao headquarters schaffhausen switzerland holding company olathe kansas u.s. headquarters key people cliff pemble ceo min kao gary burrell products gps receivers avionics wearable technology revenue 2.82 billion 2015 1 operating income 550 million 2015 1 net income 456 million 2015 1 number of employees 10 086 2013 subsidiaries garmin international inc. garmin asia corporation navigon website www.garmin.com en us garmin ltd. shortened to garmin and formerly known as pronav is an american multinational technology company founded by gary burrell and min kao in 1989 from lenexa kansas and is based in schaffhausen switzerland . 2 3 the company is known for its specialization in gps technology development for its use in automotive aviation marine outdoor and sport activities and utilities . 4 due to their development in wearable technology they have also been competing with activity tracker and smartwatch consumer developers such as fitbit and apple . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 founding and growth 1.2 public offering 1.3 continued growth 2 products and brands 2.1 software 2.2 marine gps 2.3 handheld gps 2.3.1 etrex 2.4 ique pda receivers 2.5 automotive gps 2.6 fishfinders 2.7 laptop gps and mobile apps 2.8 n vifone 2.9 personal trainers 2.10 avionics 2.11 garmin at subsidiary 3 wristwear 4 maps 5 sport sponsorship 5.1 corporate governance 6 operations 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit founding and growth edit in 1983 gary burrell recruited min h. kao from the defense contractor magnavox while working for the former king radio . 6 they founded garmin in 1989 in lenexa kansas 2 as pronav . pronav s first product was a gps unit which sold for us 2 500 . the company was later renamed garmin an acronym of the first names of its two founders gary burrell and min h. kao . 7 in 1991 the u.s. army became their first customer . 8 by 1995 garmin s sales had reached 105 million and it had achieved a profit of 23 million . by 1999 sales had reached 233 million and profit of 64 million . garmin reported a 2006 total revenue of 1.77 billion up 73 % from 1.03 billion in 2005 . 9 10 on may 13 1999 aircell and garmin international announced an alliance to develop new products that use aircell s unique cellular air ground link to bring affordable flight communications navigation and safety to general aviation aircraft . 11 by 2000 garmin had sold three million gps devices and was producing 50 different models . its products were sold in 100 countries and carried by 2 500 independent distributors . as of 22 august 2000 the company held 35 patents on gps technology . by the end of june 2000 the company employed 1 205 people 541 in the united states 635 in taiwan and 29 in the united kingdom . 12 public offering edit the company began public trading on nasdaq on 8 december 2000 . at that time burrell owned 19 911 155 shares . kao owned 20 352 803 shares . together their holdings accounted for 45 percent of the company s stock . kao s brother ruey jeng kao an attorney in taipei owned another 7 984 109 shares which when combined with burrell s and kao s shares constituted 54.22 percent of the shares outstanding . 13 continued growth edit the world s only garmin retail location is located on the magnificent mile in chicago illinois . in august 2003 garmin completed acquisition of ups aviation technologies inc. a subsidiary of united parcel service inc. expanding its product line of panel mounted gps nav comm units and integrated cockpit systems for private and commercial aircraft . the acquired company changed its name to garmin at inc. and continued operations as a wholly owned subsidiary of garmin international inc. 14 garmin has acquired dynastream innovations 15 eme tec sat sas eme 16 and digital cyclone . 17 dynastream located in cochrane alberta canada is a leader in the field of personal monitoring technology ant such as foot pods and heart rate monitors for sports and fitness products and is also a leading provider of ultra low power and low cost wireless connectivity solutions for a wide range of applications ant . eme tec sat sas eme is the distributor of garmin s consumer products in france ; following the acquisition eme will change its name to garmin france sas . digital cyclone inc dci located in chanhassen minnesota provides mobile weather solutions for consumers pilots and outdoor enthusiasts . garmin also bought nautamatic marine systems 18 an oregon based company that makes autopilot systems for boats . in july 2011 garmin finished its acquisition of the german satellite navigation company navigon . 19 in 2006 garmin introduced a new corporate logo 20 and opened its first retail store located on michigan avenue in chicago illinois . 21 in 2015 garmin acquired south africa s ikubu ltd. for its backtracker on bicycle low power radar system . 22 products and brands edit see also list of garmin products software edit in addition to devices with integrated software garmin also produces a number of software packages for use on a personal computer . this software was designed to run on only the microsoft windows operating system until 2006 when garmin released all of its software for mac os x. 23 marine gps edit the company s first product was the gps 100 a panel mounted gps receiver aimed at the marine market priced at 2 500 . it debuted at the 1990 international marine technology exposition in chicago . the product was an instant hit and generated a backlog of orders for 5 000 units . in response to the demand thus created kao traveled january 1991 to taipei to set up manufacturing facilities . handheld gps edit a garmin etrex h an early basic gps model another early product a handheld gps receiver proved popular with military personnel serving in kuwait and saudi arabia during the 1991 gulf war . in the early 2000s decade garmin launched a series of personal gps devices aimed at recreational runners called the forerunner . a similar wrist worn gps device with two dimensional gps tracking and waypoint projection called the garmin foretrex is popular among day hikers off road mountain bikers and sailboat racers . etrex edit a garmin etrex 30 simultaneously connects to both gps and glonass satellites . one of the most popular of the garmin handheld gps receivers the compact etrex series was introduced in 2000 . within the etrex line are several models packaging several different features and options . the original etrex commonly nicknamed etrex yellow was a sensation when it first appeared as it offered a lightweight 5.3 oz 150 g waterproof palm sized 12 channel gps receiver to backpackers hikers and others afoot in remote areas along with a battery life of up to 22 hours on just two aa size batteries . 24 the etrex yellow was replaced in 2007 by the etrex h which added a high sensitivity receiver . 25 other more advanced etrex models include the summit venture legend and vista each with various additional features such as waas altimeter digital compass city database and highway maps . many of these models come in color and expandable memory versions . 26 in may 2011 garmin refreshed the etrex product lineup with improved mechanical design and support for the latest advances in cartography and hardware technology ; with its release of the etrex 10 etrex 20 and etrex 30 garmin became the first company to manufacture and distribute a worldwide consumer navigation product supporting both gps and glonass satellite constellations . 27 28 may 13 2015 garmin release the etrex 20x and 30x which succeeded the etrex 20 and 30 . the main upgrade was a higher resolution screen and 4gb storage double of the previous models . 29 july 2 2015 garmin introduced its etrex touch line releasing tree models 25 35 and 35t all featuring an 2.6 touch screen . 30 etrex model 10 20 30 20x 30x touch 25 touch 35 touch 35t release date may 2011 may 2015 july 2015 release price 120 200 300 200 300 250 300 350 production state in production discontinued in production satellite systems gps & glonass with waas & hotfix compass no yes no yes yes yes barometer no screen size resolution color & touch 2.2 2.6 128 160 176 220 240 320 160 240 monochrome 65k color no yes memory 2gb 4gb 8gb other features ipx7 waterproof 2x aa battery usb interface relief basemap geocaching friendly . microsd storage automatic routing add custom maps . model 10 20 30 20x 30x touch 25 touch 35 touch 35t the geko series was a compact line of handheld gps receivers aimed at the budget or lightweight hiking market . in 2004 garmin introduced its 60c line of handheld gps mapping receivers featuring increased sensitivity and storage capacity along with a battery life of up to 30 hours in battery save mode . this was followed by the 60cx and 60csx with improved color map displays . with the gtm 11 gtm 20 and gtm 25 a garmin gps device receives and uses traffic message channel tmc information . 31 also some garmin n vi 1690 1490t 1450t 1390t 1390 1350 1260 1250 and 265wt 265t 265w 265 255w and 255 comes with an integrated tmc receiver . ique pda receivers edit main article garmin ique in 2003 garmin launched the ique line of integrated pda gps receivers . on 31 october 2005 the ique m4 became the first pda that did not require a pc to preload the maps . the american version came with built in maps of north america while the uk version was supplied pre loaded with maps of western europe . automotive gps edit garmin n vi 255w with a 4.3 inch diagonal display this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message in 1998 the first garmin streetpilot was announced at the consumer electronics show . it had a black and white screen and no voice . in 2002 the streetpilot iii added a color display and voice navigation . in october 2005 garmin released the streetpilot i series compact gps navigators which come in three models i2 i3 i5 . the i2 has a monochrome display and maps need to be loaded on a transflash card . the i3 is similar to the i2 except it has a color screen . the i5 has a color screen and the maps come preprogrammed into the