Garmin Acquires MotionBased

Yep. It's true. Garmin just bought MotionBased. The official press release dropped this morning announcing that MotionBased will immediately become a division of Garmin International.

Phew. What a relief to say that in public.

So... before we address the inevitable questions, we wanted to first thank all of our customers who helped MotionBased get to where it is today. We launched our public beta last summer with 100 customers and 900 activities. And in 15 months, we've watch MotionBased grow to over 11,000 customers and 150,000 activities. During that time, you've amazed us with your support, feedback and participation. Truly inspirational -- thank you!!!

Okay... let's talk more details:

What does this mean for MotionBased?
A paycheck. A much needed visit to the dentist. Sleep at night. A pat on the back for our hard work.

But most importantly... the ability to focus our efforts in making MotionBased the best outdoor training and adventure application on the internet. No more worries about keeping the dream alive -- we now have the backing to take MotionBased to a higher level.

Did the MotionBased crew go corporate on us?
Nope. We're not the type. MotionBased will be run by the same crew that created it. We live, breathe and dream MotionBased. There is no better group of individuals to take it to the next level. We know what our customers want because you've told us. And now... we get to honor those requests.

Will MotionBased roll-up into the Garmin Training Center?
Nope. The MotionBased web application will remain independent of the Garmin Training Center client application. That said, we will work closely with the Training Center team to share ideas and, perhaps, resources from time to time.

Will MotionBased relocate?
That's a big NO. We will remain in the San Francisco Bay Area -- the perfect playground for combining our interests in technology and the outdoors. We can't think of a better place to test and use MotionBased.

Will MotionBased become entirely FREE?
Ahhhhhhh... no. MotionBased will maintain our two core account types: MotionBased Lite (free) and MotionBased Standard (paid). The business model has not changed. We will always maintain a free aspect of MotionBased giving anyone access to core features of the web application. We believe customers will eventually find enough value in the premium features to sign up for the paid subscription.

Don't worry... not all of the new features will go to the paid service. We will upgrade both levels of service throughout the life of MotionBased -- although some of the goodies will be in the paid version.

Will MotionBased support non-Garmin devices going forward?
Good question. We don't have a solid answer on this one yet. A lot of it will depend on the other GPS manufacturers. The spirit of MotionBased is to create the largest repository of outdoor activities on the Internet -- the MotionBased TrailNetwork -- regardless of what GPS device was used. However, we realize that Garmin competitors may not want their customers to send us their data. We hope that's not the case -- but only time will tell.

Why did MotionBased sell to Garmin?
We thought about lots of ways to keep MotionBased going, growing, and getting better. We considered continuing to bootstrap the operation, taking venture capital/angel money, or selling the business.

It sure sounded nice to keep it to ourselves. Grow a sound business and maintain control. Be your own boss -- yada yada yada. But the reality of keeping this in-house while meeting the expectations of our customers and, mostly, ourselves was too much. We needed a vehicle to make our ideas and vision a reality. And after looking around, it became fairly obvious that Garmin was the perfect fit.  Fortunately for us, Garmin felt the same.

We believe that Garmin makes the best consumer GPS devices. We also believe that MotionBased makes the best web-based GPS tracking application. Why not take the best of both worlds to create a better solution -- your classic 1+1=3 scenario.

So now what?
Not much. Keep using MotionBased as you always have. If you're new to MotionBased, check out our demo and see what you're missing. It's pretty cool stuff.

We'll continue to post updates on MBlog. Be sure to subscribe to our feed so you don't miss a step.

We've come a long way in the last two years and the best part is... we're just beginning.

Thanks for your support.

Comments

[Narendra]

Congrats to you guys!

[Chris Howley]

Congrats - two great tastes that taste great together! Keep up the good work! Your new friends at Inline Fitness Magazine

[Mario]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! As soon as I bought my Garmin 301 this past summer I joined Motionbased. You have the best software for Garmin and it is great to see you are now one company. Best of Luck!!!

[Charlie]

Congrats to the MB crew!! I was very sceptical about my Garmin 301 until I found you guys...and I've been hooked ever since. Thanks for all the hard work. You deserve the rewards!!

[Rodrigo Bermudez]

Congratulations guys!! You all do a very nice job and deserve to be recognized.
Thank you again and again.

Rodrigo

[Malcolm L. Van Atta III]

Good Luck MB! This website has helped me tremendously. I spread the word to everyone I come into contact with. I am preparing for my first Marathon and MB along with my 301 have been the best training equipment and tools since the running shoe. Glad to see you doing well. Keep Training!

[Terry Wheeler]

Congratulations to the MB Team, but I think even more so to Garmin. MB has been a significant plus to my Garmin 301 experience, and I hope you continue to go from strenght to strength. Your technical accomplishments to date speak very vell of you abilities, and coupled with the effort required to build a business you have to be aknowledged as real winners. I hope you all become [and/or continue to be] healthy wealthy and wise.

[Pedro Campos]

Fantastic. I use a Garmin ForeRunner to track cycling activities in the Rocky Mountains and found the Motion Based site to be very useful in viewing the recorded data. I look forward to seeing what evolves from this acquisition.

[Bob Godman]

I always felt your program was the best and that you would end up with Garmin. Being a small businessman myself I applaud you. You have a great product and deserve the rewards for all your hard work.
BOb

[Kent]

Congrats! Should be good stuff coming out. I fear one thing. As a Mac user, and with Garmin's anti-Mac history, I worry that the MB will never develop the Mac access promised in the past. Say it ain't so!

[Jess Raphael]

I can't wait to get my Garmin Edge 305 Bundle to check out your interface. I know that the info I've seen already will help me with the 2006 roadie bike racing season.

My question: Have you considered dividing the repository into Northern and Southern California? Most racers are regional to one or the other.

[Clark Weber]

Jess,

We have considered breaking stuff out into Regions (e.g. Lake Tahoe; Southern California; Colorado Rockies), but it is pretty low on our priority list. We need to crank out some more core features before we get to better regionalization and localization.

[Design]

Congratulations , That is really Great !

[Thomas Bigelow]

Terrific. I'm migrating from Polar and their Cycling Coach website. I love the Motionbased demo. I just received my new Garmin Edge 305 and will be installing those beautifully designed all-in-one speed and cadence sensors on all my bikes this weekend. Just tell me that the promised Mac OSX support is on it's way and I'm a very happy cyclist.

[Clark Weber]

Thomas,

We've been beta testing uploads to MotionBased via a Mac the last few days. After another week of testing, we will release this to the public. You can start sending your data to MotionBased and using the following features:

- Digest
- Dashboard
- Reports
- Map View via Goople Maps
- Google Earth Export

The following features will not be available for Mac users until this summer:

- Map Player
- Analyzer

[James Boone]

I am very disappointed with MotionBased because it no longer will upload my bicycle rides.
I reinstalled the software and it don't work. It worked fine last November but now it wants me to install new software..is this for real?

[Clark Weber]

James,

It is difficult to troubleshoot your problem without knowing more details. I will notify MotionBased Customer Support of your problem. It may help to send an email ahead of time with more details of your particular problem -- support@motionbased.com

[temccullough]

will motion support mac for the edge 305??

[Clark Weber]

MotionBased supports the Garmin Edge and the new Forerunner product line.

http://blog.motionbased.com/2006/03/mac_support_is_.html

[phillip]

wondering if you have to upload nema or does it have to be garmin protocal? i would tink that since all gps's support nema that would be the most logical method of data uploading.