Smart phone and mobile navigation trends report 2008/2009

It is an exciting time for the smart phone and mobile navigation industries. In the smart phone space, Nokia continues to lead globally, but the arrival of Apple in 2007, and the Android platform in 2008, the moves by RIM and Microsoft further into the consumer segment, and the emergence of vendor-driven application stores and marketplaces, are changing the dynamics of the mobile industry. In the navigation space, the integration of GPS in smart phones has started to take off. The navigation industry has seen big acquisitions and market exits, and huge volume growth in PNDs at the expense of greatly reduced average selling prices and profits. We are in a period of major advances in device and user interface design, which will lead to quite rapid changes in mobile user behaviour and the services they demand when on the move.

Meanwhile, the economic climate in which these trends are taking place is becoming increasingly challenging. The price of energy has soared, so has the cost of food. House prices are falling fast in many major economies and credit is harder to find for individuals and businesses, with many established financial institutions failing. Many consumers find themselves with far less disposable income, businesses are cutting back on travel and trying to remove cost and risk wherever possible, delaying projects if not cancelling them outright.

But downturns produce winners as well as losers. Companies that follow the right strategies become leaner and stronger, while their competition flounders and disappears. Understanding trends in customer demand will be even more critical to success, and sometimes survival, than normal.

In this report, Canalys presents its annual round-up of performance and trends in the smart phone and mobile navigation markets. It looks at individual vendors, regional differences, technologies, user behaviour and other factors to deliver a broad picture of the state of the market and its direction. This unique work, now in its seventh successful year, is designed to help companies formulate their strategies in this changing environment. It investigates the key worldwide market trends, looks at regional differences and the performance of the leading hardware and software vendors. Contents include:

Market overview

Separate investigations are provided of recent trends in both the smart phone and mobile navigation markets and analysis of their implications for the future. Understand which vendors are on the rise, which are in decline, where and why. As well as delivering insight into the activities of the key players, including Apple, Garmin, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, RIM and TomTom, this year’s report looks at specific aspects of these markets. These include mobile operator strategies, the importance of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), changes in user interface and user expectations, the move from devices to services, the challenges of bringing connectivity to navigation devices, and the opportunities for pedestrian-focused and location-based services.

The Canalys Point of View (PoV)

The performance and strategies of the leading global mobile navigation hardware and software and smart phone vendors are analysed and compared using the unique Canalys PoV tool. The vendors receiving this assessment are: Apple, Becker, Fujitsu, Garmin, HTC, Magellan, Medion, Mio Technology, Motorola, Navigon, Nav N Go, Nokia, Palm, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony Ericsson and TomTom.

Global market shares and forecasts – regional differences highlighted

Worldwide market estimates are provided for smart phones, with breakdowns for the following geographies: Canada, the US, Latin America, China, Japan, Rest of APAC and EMEA. This includes:

• Leading smart phone vendor shipments and market shares
• Shipments and shares by operating system vendor
• Three-year forecasts by device category

In the mobile GPS navigation market, estimates are split by the three major regions of the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA, and cover:

• Leading PND vendor shipments and market shares
• Leading software solution vendor shipments and shares
• Three-year forecasts for perpetual mobile GPS navigation solutions by device category (handheld, smart phone/mobile phone, PND and PMP)
• Three-year forecasts for phone-based subscription navigation solutions

The full report, published in October 2008, is over 90 pages and includes supporting definitions and explanation of the research methodologies used, and is only available direct from Canalys – the acknowledged leading market analyst firm in this area.

Next steps...