USA: Unit shipments of small/medium LCDs for Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs) are expected to double from 2007 to 2010, thanks to declining prices, rising demand and expanding production capacity, according to iSuppli Corp.

The market for small/medium LCDs for PNDs will grow to 60.2 million units in 2010, nearly double the 30.6 million units in 2007. By 2012, PND LCD shipments will rise to 68 million units, expanding at a robust CAGR of 17.3 percent from 2007. The PND display market will reach 43.6 million units in 2008, up 42.6 percent from 30.6 million in 2007.

iSuppli defines small/medium displays as those having a diagonal dimension of less that 10 inches. PND display revenue will grow to $945 million by 2012, rising at a CAGR of 6.9 percent from $677 million in 2007.

Unfortunately for PND display suppliers, market revenue is expected to peak in 2010, when it hits the $1 billion mark for the first and only time, according to iSuppli. In the following years, PND LCD revenue will decline, although unit shipments will continue to rise, due to falling prices, according to iSuppli.

The figure presents iSuppli's global forecast for PND displays both in terms of unit shipments and revenue for the period of 2007 through 2012.

PNDs find their way to mass market PNDs are GPS-enabled handheld devices that are used for vehicle navigation. These devices mostly are sold in the aftermarket and require docking stations. They can be used in place of pre-installed navigation systems in cars.

The leading suppliers of PNDs are Garmin, TomTom and Mio, with most sales in Europe, followed by the United States and Asia.

The main display sizes for PND displays are increasing to 4.3 inches, 4.8 inches, 5 inches and 5.2 inches, up from 3.5 inches before.

The leading display suppliers to this market are Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and Sharp Corp. Taiwanese and Korean LCD vendors also are participating in this growing market.

"In just the last two years, the PND has evolved from being an expensive option to become an affordable must-have consumer product, available with a wide variety of options, said Vinita Jakhanwal, principal analyst for mobile displays at iSuppli.

"PNDs today represent a strong growth opportunity for makers of Thin Film Transistor-LCDs (TFT-LCDs) despite competition from in-house made car navigation systems and from mobile handsets with GPS capabilities."

The popularity of PNDs also is being driven by a number of new features, including:

* Voice command-based navigation
* 3D maps
* Thin and light form factors
* Larger and wider LCD screens
* Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card slots for calls and text messaging
* Bluetooth capability for hands-free operation
* Real-time traffic updates
* Larger hard drives
* Touch screens

While this puts added pressure on the small/medium LCD vendors that make displays for PNDs, the shipment and revenue benefits outweigh the difficulties, at least for now.

The author is Editorial Director and Manager, Public Relations, iSuppli