January 4th, 2008
500 mln portable navigation units to sell by 2015
While Garmin and TomTom remain the worldwide market leaders for portable navigation devices today, mobile phone makers Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung are expected to lead the way in the near future. This will happen as the worldwide portable navigation market grows from 50 mln units in 2007 to more than 500 mln units in 2015, according to Telematics Research Group. TRG estimates 30 mln dedicated PNDs were sold in 2006 and about 20 mln navigation-enabled mobile phones for a total of 50 mln units. Both segments will grow rapidly over the next few years but navigation-enabled mobile phones will start outselling dedicated PNDs in 2008. TRG projects the combined segments will reach total annual sales of more than 220 mln by the end of 2012, a number that is likely to surpass 500 mln units by the end of 2015.
