Communications and Technology Industry Research

In-Stat’s latest research, “Personal Navigation Devices: Worldwide Shipment Growth Continues Despite Increasing Competition from GPS-enabled Handsets,” which covers the worldwide market for personal navigation devices, has indicated a sign of maturity in the personal navigation device (PND) market as price points decline sharply, consolidation occurs, and shipment growth slows down.

The report clarified that the GPS-enabled mobile phone shipments will nearly triple by 2013, compared with 2009.

In-Stat’s (News - Alert) research report includes examination of developments in the PND market including forecasts of PND unit shipments by region, annual revenue, bill of materials, average selling prices, and total available market for silicon and non-silicon for all PNDs through 2013. The research also talks about the profiles of manufacturers: Garmin, Magellan, TomTom (News - Alert), and LG; profiles of component suppliers: Broadcom, Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) & SiRF Technology, GloNav/NXP/STMicroelectronics/Ericsson, Infineon, Qualcomm, Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics, and STMicroelectronics.

 

In-Stat’s report has also stated that the increasing competition from GPS-enabled mobile phones can be the most significant threat to be faced by the PND market. But, stand alone, report clarified that the PND sales will continue to grow over the next five years, albeit at an anemic rate.

 

“Drivers for continued PND market growth include average selling price declines, automobile manufacturers’ desire to offer more affordable navigation options, and the potential growth anticipated from connected PNDs,” said Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst, in a release.

 

“Connected PNDs, like the recently announced Garmin (News - Alert) nuvi 1690, can connect to the Internet and receive dynamic information such as flight updates, gas prices, and local weather,” Ethier added. “These expensive models may be a tough sell in the current struggling economy, however.”

 

As per the research report, worldwide unit shipments for PNDs is said to reach approximately 56 million units in 2012. The total silicon opportunity for PNDs is expected to pass $1 billion in 2010, before starting to decline. Additionally, report mentioned that the processors will be the largest semiconductor segment, followed by DRAM and NAND memory.