Navigation systems to become $62B market by 2012

Consumer navigation is quickly becoming an established consumer electronics category with more and more consumers discovering the benefits of navigation-related services. ABI Research forecasts navigation devices and systems will hit annual sales revenues of $62 billion by 2012.

"Despite disappointing sales levels in Q1 08 and profit warnings issued by TomTom, Tele Atlas and SiRF, the navigation market still faces a bright future," says Dominique Bonte, ABI Research principal analyst. "The current decrease in sales has to be seen as a logical reaction following the extraordinary sales growth during Q4 07, especially in the United States."

The personal navigation device (PND) remains the most prevalent navigation device type but is increasingly complemented by other form factors such as on-board and off-board handset-based navigation and low cost factory-installed in-dash systems. At the same time navigation capabilities are being integrated in an increasing number of new form factors such as portable gaming consoles and mobile Internet devices.

Consumer navigation is quickly maturing, with more reliable solutions being offered by a large number of vendors. While features such as text-to-speech and real-time traffic are becoming available on an ever-larger number of devices, new features such as pedestrian navigation, dynamic content and live local search on connected devices are being introduced, enhancing the navigation experience even further.

However, in an increasingly competitive and complex mass market, branding, communication and market share are becoming key success factors, often achieved by consolidation and vertical integration. While the navigation market continues to grow and mature, the window of opportunity for small, innovative companies to stay in the market—let alone enter it—it is closing quickly.