Forecast: Mobile Phones to Dominate GPS Market

• Posted: Sunday, January 06, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Market Survey, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Smartphone

Mobile phone-based navigation is poised to dominate the GPS market, according to a new study issued by analysis firm Telematics Research Group. TRG reports that while portable navigation device makers like Garmin and TomTom remain worldwide market leaders, selling 30 million dedicated PNDs in 2007, handset makers like Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung are quickly gaining ground, moving about 20 million navigation-enabled phones last year.

TRG forecasts that annual navigation-enabled phone sales will outstrip dedicated PND (personal navigation devices) sales sometime in the next year, with the combined market reaching sales in excess of 220 million units by the end of 2012 and passing the 500 million-unit threshold by the end of 2015.

"Dedicated PNDs are mobile devices optimized for navigation while mobile phones with navigation are optimized for communications, which gives them an advantage in the emerging new world order for navigation," said TRG principal analyst Dr. Egil Juliussen in a prepared statement.

“In the years to come navigation-enabled mobile phones will be used for auto navigation, pedestrian navigation and many other types of location-based services,” says Juliussen. “This opens up a new world of services and capabilities.”

The pieces are in place and the players are making their moves. Recent acquisitions by TomTom and Nokia point the way toward the coming battle for the GPS consumer. Required for success in the GPS market of the future will be connectivity, inexpensive maps and rich point-of-interest content – addresses alone will not be enough.

Garmin and TomTom are adding connectivity to their devices. Mobile phone makers are adding maps. “A large volume market for inexpensive, dedicated navigation devices will live on past 2008,” Juliussen says, but survival for TomTom and Garmin may mean finding a way to compete for smartphone users.

“Dedicated PNDs are mobile devices optimized for navigation while mobile phones with navigation are optimized for communications, which gives them an advantage in the emerging new world order for navigation,” Juliussen concludes. [FierceMobileContent]

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