ABI Research: GPS Devices Will Bring In $62 Billion By 2012

by Justin

ABI Research has come up with some new research stating that GPS navigation systems and devices will generate a huge $62 billion in annual revenues by 2012. With profit margins getting a little thin for PND makers such as Garmin and TomTom, some have predicted a demise of the portable GPS unit in the not-so-distant future. Not everyone agrees thoughi. ABI Research analyst Dominique Bonte says that disappointing earnings from SiRF, TomTom and other big names in the GPS market are nothing more than logical follow-ups to their extraordinary successes at the end of 2007. Irregardless, they all still are looking at a bright future. But it’s important to remember that pretty much everyone has some kind of mobile device other than a PND these days, whether it be a cell phone, PDA, or UMPC. And with the cell phone/GPS convergence well underway, it’ll only be a matter of time before consumers realize it’s just plain easier to have a mobile handset with navigational features than a cell and a PND. This said, we wonder how much of that $62 million will actually be generated from PND sales?