China's nascent GPS handset market growing

CHINA: China's GPS phone market grew rapidly in 2007, and GPS phones, along with music and camera phones, are the brightest spots in the nation's mobile phone market overall, reports In-Stat.

A number of major handset manufacturers have entered the GPS phone market, although cautiously and with a limited number of high-end models. The GPS phone market is still small and has low penetration, but its high growth rate is a clear signal of its development, as is the fact that it is starting to have an impact on the growth of the personal navigation device (PND) market.

A recent report by the high-tech market research firm found the following:

* Shipments of GPS phones will exceed five million in 2009 and will account for about 10 percent of total mobile phone shipments in 2012, compared to 0.6 percent in 2007.
* Handset manufacturers continue to be the most powerful players in the GPS phone value chain. In 2008, more mainstream handset manufacturers have begun GPS phone production, and the number of models available will be at least three times that of those in 2007.
* Many mobile phone chipset manufacturers have begun to integrate GPS functionality into the mobile phone's main chipset in order to provide a total solution to handset manufacturers and accelerate market penetration of GPS.