Boston, MA - December 20, 2006 - Two new Strategy Analytics studies, "Portable Navigation Competitor Analysis Metrics" and "Portable Navigation Market Forecast Tables 2005-2011," conclude that the increasing push by traditional automotive suppliers into the mobile navigation market, in conjunction with the increasing penetration of GPS capability cellular handsets, presents serious competition for portable navigation device vendors, including TomTom, and Garmin.

Over the last 12 months, there has been a wide range of portable navigation device product launches from traditional automotive suppliers, including Pioneer, Blaupunkt, Sony, Alpine, Audiovox and Siemens VDO. The embedded navigation systems from automotive companies also offer significant safety and integration advantages in contrast to portable navigation devices used in the vehicle. The Strategy Analytics Global Wireless Practice forecasts increasing availability of GPS capability on cellular handsets, presenting significant opportunities for pay-as-you-go smart phone based navigation. Together, these factors are set to cause a significant shift in the competitive dynamics facing all the main portable navigation vendors including TomTom, Garmin, Navman, and Magellan.

All navigation vendors are about to reach a strategic crossroads as strong latent demand for low cost basic route guidance is increasingly met. Strategy Analytics survey of new car buyers across the US and Europe indicates that at least 18 percent of drivers require maps or directions more than 20 percent of the time they are behind the wheel. The vast majority of consumers, however, over 60 percent, travel beyond familiar destinations less than 5 percent of the time.

"There are now indications that Portable Navigation Device (PND) growth is slowing; and the demand from the smaller but highly significant segment of consumers who require route guidance on a regular basis has practically been met by low cost PNDs," says study author, Joanne Blight, Director, Automotive Practice. "The next challenge is to meet the needs of the much larger segment of consumers who require route guidance on a far less regular basis. These consumers will require products that combine and integrate navigation with a range of other vehicle features, starting off with road traffic information, but increasingly requiring entertainment and innovative location-based applications, such as automatic directions to available parking positions. The automotive and wireless companies are very well positioned to mount some serious competition in this section of the navigation market."

Automotive and Portable Navigation Market Forecast

Source: Strategy Analytics