Garmin waiting to see what iPhone does on Navigation?

In a statement released with Garmins earnings report, the Nuvifone has been pushed back from its original estimate of Q4 of this year to the “first half of 2009″. Surely, it is not the navigation part of the convergence device that is slowing the team down, or is it?

Perhaps Garmin is holding off to see what kind of impact, if any, the iPhone makes on their sales and how they respond to it. Presumably, any sales of the Nuvifone would cannibalize sales of their stand alone navigation units. Could it be they are just trying to prolong that cannibalization until they have to jump in the phone game? If so, Garmin isn’t admitting it:

“The nuvifone will not be available in fourth quarter as previously announced. While we had hoped to have carrier launches in the fourth quarter, we have found that meeting some of the carrier specific requirements will take longer than anticipated. We remain pleased with carrier interest in the device and are working toward making necessary design changes to meet their requirements. We anticipate launching the product during the first half of 2009.”

“Carrier specific requirements” huh? A way to monetize a monthly service charge? In any event, the GPS market for navigation is about to undergo some big changes in the coming months and I can’t wait.

Read: [] Garmin press release (PDF) [Garmin]