25 Most Influential People in Mobile Technology

#23 Most Influential Person in Mobile Technology

Cliff Pemble

Position: President and COO, Garmin
Age: 42
Location: Kansas City, Mo.

Handset makers are slapping GPS onto phones left and right, but Garmin’s upcoming nüvifone starts with the company’s tried-and-true navigation knowledge and folds a quad-band, 3G, GSM phone into the mix. This daring move, in which Pemble is instrumental, should bring a new level of navigational polish to the cell phone.

But Pemble isn’t putting all of his eggs in that one basket. The company recently launched an upgrade to Garmin Mobile, which brings a new interface and Google Local search to BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. And Garmin’s standalone GPS devices will be getting smarter with an upcoming feature that will allow consumers to send trip-planning results from Mapquest.com to their navigator.

Did You Know: Pemble holds a BA in mathematics and computer science from MidAmerica Nazarene University.