Study: GPS Phone Shipments Will See Growth Despite Economic Downturn

[Satellite Today 01-21-09] Shipments of GPS-enabled mobile phones will hit a speed bump in 2009 but will still manage to post year-to-year unit growth through the current economic downturn, according to an ABI Research market study released Jan. 20.
    While ABI expects global handset shipments to drop 4 percent to 5 percent in 2009, GPS-enabled phones will climb to 240 million units, an increase of 6.4 percent over 2008, according to “GPS-enabled Handsets.”
     ABI said its outlook on GPS mobile phones was “surprising” and driven by the ongoing demand for feature-rich smartphones — a group that includes the Apple iPhone 3G, RIM’s BlackBerry devices, and Nokia N series phones.
    Shipments of the devices will increase at an average annual unit shipment rate of 19 percent through 2014. During the period, GPS chipsets will continue to penetrate this segment; nine of every 10 smartphones will contain GPS chipsets in 2014, compared with one in three in 2008, the study said.