Instat says GPS enabled phones to capture PND market opportunities

Technology market research analysis firm Instat's report on Personal Navigation Devices (PND) says, PND market is showing signs of maturity with decline in price points. PND shipments to grow at slower rate for another five years due to increasing competition from GPS-enabled mobile phones.

"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," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "Connected PNDs, like the recently announced Garmin nuvi 1690, can connect to the Internet and receive dynamic information such as flight updates, gas prices, and local weather. These expensive models may be a tough sell in the current struggling economy, however."

The highlights of the research are:

1. Worldwide unit shipments for PNDs will reach approximately 56 million units in 2012.
2. The total semiconductor market opportunity for PNDs will pass $1 billion in 2010, before starting to      decline. Processors will be the largest semiconductor segment, followed by DRAM and NAND      memory.
3. Among the semiconductor competitors in this market are Broadcom, Cambridge Silicon Radio     (CSR) & SiRF Technology, Inc., GloNav/NXP/STMicroelectronics/Ericsson, Infineon, Qualcomm,     Samsung Electronics, and STMicroelectronics.
4. GPS-enabled mobile phone shipments will nearly triple by 2013, compared with 2009