Study Sees Continued Growth In GPS Handsets

Jan 23, 2009 1:57 PM, MD&D News Staff

While global handset shipments are expected to drop by 4% to 5% in 2009, GPS-enabled phones will weather the economic downturn and climb to 240 million units, a 6.4% increase over 2008, according to a market study by ABI Research. The ongoing demand for feature-rich smart phones will drive this growth, which represents a slight decrease from previous results.

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Overall, the group that includes the Apple iPhone 3G, RIM’s BlackBerry devices, and Nokia’s N series phones, among others, will increase at an average annual unit shipment rate of 19% through 2014, ABI said. During that period, GPS chipsets will continue to penetrate this segment. Nine out of 10 smart phones will contain GPS ICs in 2014, compared to one in three in 2008.

Other factors that will support this trend include the spread of open-source operating systems (such as Google’s Android), which provide application-specific interfaces that allow software developers to create location-based content for mobile devices. Also contributing is the continuing emergence of navigation and map-based applications for handsets.

“As the quality of positioning technology in handsets improves and the cost of including it declines, GPS location technology will approach the status of a standard device feature,” said George Perros, senior analyst. “We are approaching the point where location awareness will be synonymous with smart devices, a point where personal navigation, social spatial knowledge, and location-specific contextual information will be assumed handset capabilities.”

The ABI study, “GPS-enabled Handsets,” examines the evolving technology, economic, and market factors driving the adoption rate of GPS-capable mobile phones. It analyzes the business opportunities and challenges of provisioning and providing accurate positioning data across wireless network subscriber populations. The study is part of two ABI services: Location-Based Services and Mobile Devices.