A new article from Reuters has reported the inevitable – mobile industry to conquer the GPS market. After waging war against alarm clock makers and camera manufacturers, the industry is actively exploring new features or add-ons to satisfy consumer clamor for innovation and reach full convergence.
According to researchers Canalys, the navigation products market is set to grow in 2007 by about two thirds from last year, with traditional personal navigation devices (PND) taking 85% of the market.
Analysis firm Berg Insight has forecast annual shipments of handset-based personal navigation products in Europe and the U.S. to reach 12 million units by 2009, compared with 1 million in 2005.
Google and Yahoo are seen as keen to add mobile navigation services to their mapping offerings, while car navigation firms are adding mobile services to their products.
Unlike the trounced alarm clocks and camera makers, GPS device makers are quite prepared for this battle and might have the ability to put up a good fight! In fact, companies like TomTom and Garmin are already developing mobile handsets with GPS features.
But can these GPS device makers withstand this scuffle? We'll see.
Via Reuters
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