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Global mobile navigation device shipments hit 39 million in 2007
- US market exceeds expectations as Q4 brings 346% year-on-year
growth
Singapore and Reading (UK) - Thursday, 6 March 2008
For immediate release
Annual highlights
- Total global shipments of mobile GPS navigation devices in
2007 were up 132% on 2006
- PNDs still represent 90% of market, despite increasing
activity from smart phone vendors
- North America is fastest growing region, up 296% on 2006
compared to 139% in APAC, 87% in EMEA
- In 2007, the US represented 31% of annual global shipments,
up from just 18% in 2006
- EMEA remains biggest market, with 21.7 million units shipped
in 2007
Q4 2007 highlights
- Worldwide shipment growth in Q4 stood at 148% year on year,
higher than in the three previous quarters
- US shipments boomed to 6.7 million in the quarter, rivalling
the 8.5 million that shipped in EMEA
- US represented 39% of the global market in Q4, up from 26%
in Q3
- In Q4 TomTom was clear market leader in EMEA, but second in
North America to Garmin
- Combining Mio and Navman’s shipments would give MiTAC the
lead in APAC, ahead of TomTom
Highlights from the Canalys research
Not only does growth in the GPS navigation industry show no signs
of slowing, it is actually increasing according to the latest
figures from leading industry analyst firm Canalys. Year-on-year
growth in mobile GPS navigation device shipments stood at 148%
worldwide in Q4 2007, the highest seen since Q1 2006. Furthermore,
despite all the recent activity in the smart phone segment of the
market, which is the fastest growing according to Canalys, shipments
of PNDs (dedicated portable navigation devices) were up 150%
year-on-year in Q4 and represented a stable 90% of total device
shipments.
“A big factor in the continued success of the PND is the US
market,” said Chris Jones, Canalys VP and principal analyst.
“Seasonal promotions – particularly around Black Friday and the
Thanksgiving weekend – drove huge volumes. These promotions saw PNDs
drop, albeit temporarily, to price points as low as US$80. Garmin,
Magellan, Mio, Navigon, TomTom, and others, had products selling at
substantial discounts. While it is good to get the volume, the
problem this creates is it gives US consumers the idea that
satellite navigation needn’t be very expensive, and predictably,
many price points have not sprung back to their pre-discount
levels.”
Canalys estimates that around 6.7 million PNDs shipped in the US
in Q4 2007, representing 55% of the total for the year. In Q4 2006
the figure was below 1.5 million, showing just how much the market
has grown and the extent to which the US, once tiny compared to the
European market for such devices, has become a major arena for the
many competitors in this industry.
“Many vendors are finding it difficult to compete profitably
given the rapid price and margin reductions we have seen in the
market in recent quarters,” added research analyst Tim Shepherd.
“Cobra, for example, announced its departure at the end of 2007, and
there are many smaller vendors suffering as the market leaders
increase their shares.”
Looking at the market for all mobile GPS navigation devices
(which includes smart phones that have integrated GPS and an
activated on-board solution), Canalys puts market leader Garmin’s
share in the US in Q4 at an enviable 47%, almost exactly where it
was a year earlier. Garmin is followed by TomTom on 21%, Magellan on
17% and then Mio Technology on 6%. This means the top four hardware
vendors have more than 90% of the market. A year earlier they had
only 80% between them. “In 2006, vendors like TomTom and Mio
discovered they could have sold even more product around Black
Friday than they did, if only they had managed to put more into the
channel,” Shepherd added. “In 2007, they, and others, stepped up
their activity to take greater advantage of that seasonal US
consumer demand.”
The growing importance of the US market, and also the rising
potential within Latin America, is reflected in the fact that 14
October 2008 will see the first Canalys Navigation Forum held in the
US, at Half Moon Bay in California. Topics on the agenda include
overcoming the challenges of product differentiation, what the
channel needs in order to sell increasingly sophisticated mobile
navigation products, the revenue prospects from additional
location-based services being sold into a large, navigation-aware
consumer base and how different platforms, such as smart phones and
connected PNDs, will compete in the future.
Before this, in May 2008, Canalys is running two one-day forums
in India and Taiwan. The APAC region is the next fastest growing
after North America, with Q4 2007 shipments of around 1.7 million
mobile GPS navigation devices representing a 137% rise on the
equivalent figure in Q4 2006. The contrasts between this region and
the US couldn’t be more marked.
“In APAC in Q4 2007, the top four vendors accounted for less than
40% of all shipments,” said Singapore-based Rachel Lashford, manager
of Canalys in APAC. “And while the PND is still the largest category
in volume terms, PMPs (portable media players) and converged
devices, such as smart phones, already represent more than 20% of
the market.”
This different landscape is also evident in the hardware vendor
brands that appear in the top four and the very small distance
between their market shares. TomTom was the leading brand in Q4
2007, but this was before the formal merger of MiTAC’s Mio and
Navman subsidiaries, which took place in January. Mio and Navman’s
combined shipments would give the merged company the number one
position. Canalys estimates TomTom had 10% of the APAC market,
marginally ahead of Navman and Thinkware, with, somewhat ominously
for the PND vendors, Nokia in fourth place with just under 9% share.
Mio was in fifth place.
“South Korea, Australia and China combined currently represent
80% of shipments in the region,” Lashford added. “But Taiwan is the
fourth largest market and home to many of the ODMs that are so vital
to this industry, hence our running a forum in Taipei on May 15, to
bring both international players and local producers together to
discuss future trends and market opportunities.”
India presents huge challenges and opportunities in equal
measure. While still a nascent market for mobile navigation
solutions, in Q4 2007 it was the third largest smart phone market in
APAC after Japan and China, with quarterly shipments exceeding 1
million units for the first time. The Canalys forum in Bangalore on
May 13 will be important for those who wish to succeed in selling
navigation and location solutions into this vast potential market.
Presentations will include topics such as advances in mapping the
country, the opportunity for low-cost off-board solutions, and
understanding Indian consumer preferences – drawing upon the results
of a special consumer survey Canalys is conducting for the event.
With year-on-year growth of 86% in Q4 2007, EMEA is a laggard in
comparison to the other regions, but few industries can boast such
tremendous, sustained performance as has been seen in the navigation
business there for the past few years. In Q4, half of all mobile GPS
navigation device shipments worldwide were in EMEA. A year earlier
EMEA was two-thirds of the global total, but it remains a highly
lucrative market for many vendors. The top four only hold 65% of the
market – a situation that has changed little over the past few
quarters. TomTom held onto its clear lead in Q4, with 32% share,
ahead of Garmin on 17% and Nokia on 11% thanks to the success of its
growing portfolio of Symbian smart phones with integrated GPS. Mio
and Navman took the fourth and fifth spots.
“Within EMEA, the vast majority of shipments are still in Western
Europe, but Central and Eastern Europe is enjoying tremendous growth
– shipments there in 2007 more than quadrupled from 2006, reaching
1.4 million units,” Chris Jones added. “This year’s EMEA forum in
September is in Budapest partly as an acknowledgement of the fast
growing importance of the region and the fact that the market
dynamics are quite different – within this part of EMEA the volume
leaders are Mio, Nokia and Garmin, while TomTom is some way behind
on around 5% share in fourth.”
For more information about any of the Canalys Navigation Forums,
including agendas, complimentary press registration and sponsorship
opportunities, please visit
www.canalysnavigationforum.com.
About the Mobile Navigation Analysis services
The shipment estimates discussed in this release are for portable
devices that have integrated GPS and feature an activated, on-board,
turn-by-turn land (vehicle or pedestrian) navigation solution. These
therefore exclude fixed systems built into vehicle dashboards,
marine and aviation systems, off-board (server-based) solutions,
solutions that do not provide turn-by-turn navigation, and devices
that either lack integrated GPS or where an on-board navigation
solution is included but not activated.
The figures come from the market-leading Canalys Mobile
Navigation Analysis services. Canalys’ globally consistent market
segmentations and definitions are used by vendors the world over to
provide a coherent view of the total market for mobile navigation
solutions (both on-board and off-board) on PNDs, GPS-enabled
portable media players, mobile phones, smart phones, handhelds and
wireless handhelds. Clients receive quarterly market updates,
regular reports, trends presentations, webcasts, forecasts and
direct access to the Canalys analysts. Canalys offers services
looking at the navigation and smart mobile device markets by country
in APAC, North and Latin America and EMEA, as well as providing
global market overviews and survey-based analysis of consumer and
enterprise attitudes and preferences toward mobile applications,
devices and services. More information is available
here.
About Canalys
Canalys specialises in delivering high quality market data,
analysis and advice to the world’s leading technology vendors. It is
recognised as a key provider of continuous advisory services and
confidential custom projects for marketing managers and strategists
within blue-chip IT, telecoms, navigation and consumer electronics
companies. It has unrivalled expertise in routes to market for all
kinds of high technology products and services in the consumer, SMB
and large enterprise segments, and provides worldwide market data
and trends analysis.
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