GPS-enabled handsets set to soar

Sales of GPS-enabled mobile phone are expected to buck the global trend of handset shipment declines this year, according to a report from ABI Research.
And even though the market is expected to feel a pinch this year, unit sales of GPS-enabled phones should grow 6.4% year-over-year to 240 million units, said the firm. By contrast, the overall handset market is expected to decline up to 5% this year.
Continued demand for feature-rich smartphones will propel the market, said ABI, noting the market for phones like Apple Inc.’s iPhone 3G, Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry devices and Nokia Corp.’s N-Series phones will grow 19% annually through 2014. ABI predicts GPS chipsets will be included in nine out of 10 smartphones by 2014, compared with just three in 2008.
“Falling component prices and increasing consumer awareness of handset location capabilities will keep demand for GPS-enabled phones healthy, in spite of the slumping global economic picture,” said senior analyst George Perros. Other factors that will continue the trend toward the inclusion of GPS functionality in handsets include the spread of open source operating systems such as Google Inc.’s Android which provide application specific interfaces that allow software developers to create location-based content for mobile devices, and the continuing emergence of navigation and map-based applications for handsets.