GPS Phone Sales Seen Rising - Strategy Analytics
29 July 2009 - 7:30PM
Dow Jones News
GPS smartphone sales are expected to grow rapidly in the current
year, driven by improved applications and strong consumer
acceptance of navigation devices, Strategy Analytics said
Wednesday.
Shipments of GPS smartphones, like Nokia Corp.'s (NOK) N97 and
Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone, are seen increasing 34% to 77 million
units in 2009 from 2008, the research firm said.
"GPS smartphones...are a high-growth segment that continues to
expand even during the current, tough economic times," said
Strategy Analytics Navigation Director Joanne Blight.
Overall handset sales have so far been badly hit in the economic
downturn, but demand for more advanced phones has remained strong.
According to research firm Gartner, total handset sales fell 14.5%
in the first quarter 2009 from the previous quarter to 269 million
units. At the same time, sales of smartphones, which have open
operating systems allowing downloads of multiple applications,
increased 12.7% to 36 million units.
The growing adoption of GPS smartphones is fueled by widespread
consumer acceptance of portable navigation devices for vehicles
from companies such as TomTom (TOM2.AE) and Garmin (GRMN), combined
with improving mobile navigation services, said Neil Mawston,
Wireless Director at Strategy Analytics.
"There is an increasing presence of mapping applications among
major smartphone vendors, such as Nokia Maps, Apple Google Maps and
Blackberry Maps," he added.
Company Web site: www.strategyanalytics.com
-By Gustav Sandstrom, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3099;
gustav.sandstrom@dowjones.com