More than 550 million GPS enabled phones Will ship in 2012
Following the success of personal navigation devices, cellular companies have begun offering on-board and off-board navigation solutions, as well as a wide range of LBS (Location Based Services), such as friend finder and local search on GPS handsets.
Community and social networking-related functionality, such as distribution POI (Points of Interest) and geo-tagged pictures, is also becoming popular and is expected to increase uptake of GPS-enabled phones and carriers, mobile phone manufacturers and service providers seeking to capitalize on the LBS trend.
"While most CDMA handsets are already compatible with GPS and GPS will become a standard feature in GSM smartphones, GSM feature phones are next on the agenda be equipped with GPS technology, "says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte.
"GPS chipset vendors increasingly target devices, seeking new markets and spurred by the recent strong growth of personal navigation devices.
However, as GPS begins to penetrate lower-end phones, the cost, power consumption and footprint of GPS chipsets will have to be further reduced. This will be possible thanks to the technology single chipset and the emergence in 2009 of combination chips integrating GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi all on one die.
Major suppliers of silicon, such as Broadcom, NXP, and Atheros are well positioned to develop such solutions following the acquisition of GPS chipset vendors Global Locate, GloNav, and u-Nav, respectively.
At the same time, the thorny issue of indoor GPS coverage has to be addressed from service-based mobile phones LBS often used in harsh environments with a reduced force of the GPS signal. Network support A-GPS and high-sensitivity GPS receivers are becoming the key requirements to reduce the time needed to acquire and solutions to improve location accuracy.
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