2009 GPS Market Up 25% Despite Poor Semiconductor Outlook, Says IMS Research

The 2009 outlook for many semiconductor manufacturers is worsening by the day. Share prices have taken a severe hit with millions shaved from companies' market capital over the last 12 months. However, IMS Research projects the global positioning systems (GPS) market represents one of the few areas of growth in 2009.
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A recent report from IMS Research suggests that the GPS market is forecast to increase by over US$200 million between 2008 and 2009. IMS Research Analyst, Tom Arran, said: "2008 was the breakout year for GPS in mobile phones. In 2009 GPS will begin to penetrate into a range of vertical markets, such as cameras, laptops, UMPCs, sporting equipment and first responder radios. This will help to drive shipment growth of over 25% YoY".

"OEMs in these markets can use GPS to differentiate their product, while also drive new service revenue streams. Furthermore, location is emerging as a key component of future offerings from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Nokia, Intel, Mozilla and Ericsson. This will enable a host of new services across all key vertical markets, which in turn will further drive the uptake of GPS."

Despite a significant increase in revenue in 2009, the research firm believes that the best is yet to come. Arran goes on to say: "2009 will not be booming year for GPS in portable devices. Looking beyond the current economic turbulence, IMS Research is forecasting the overall market for GPS to demonstrate a 21.2% CAGR between 2008 and 2013.

"There is still a lot of untapped potential and the GPS market needs to mature before breaking the 500 million units per year barrier. One of the more general issues is poor performance in challenging environments. GPS manufacturers need to start seriously considering hybrid location in their offering. The report forecasts the uptake of WLAN location in each of these markets, both as a competitive and complementary technology."

Arran believes the GPS market remains competitive despite a number of acquisitions by larger semiconductor companies. He said that standalone GPS manufacturers will need to specialize to monetize, as each vertical market requires different hardware considerations. By developing a diverse portfolio of solutions tailored to specific markets, they can spread risk across a number of OEMs in different vertical markets -- ideal in troublesome times.

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BY Nikkei Electronics Asia
Source：TechOn

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