OYSTER BAY, N.Y.-New location-enabled wireless handsets will help wireless carriers find a place in the commercial telematics value chain, according to ABI. The research firm expects the telematics market to be valued at up to $7 billion by 2010, but said the current high costs of embedded telematics hardware has held the market back.
“By fully leveraging its pre-existing relationships with hardware and software partners, a wireless carrier can tap into its subscriber base and target particular commercial customers who previously wouldn’t have been able to consider a telematics solution,” said Frank Viquez, ABI’s director of automotive research.
ABI believes Nextel Communications Inc. is the best-positioned North American carrier to offer a handset-based commercial telematics solution, noting its high-paying business-user subscriber base.
