Judging by some of the GPS-enabled cell phones debuting at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, it looks like GPS embedded in mobile phones could be hot this year. And analysts agree.
Research firm Gartner predicts worldwide subscribers for GPS-enabled cell phones will increase 168% from 2007 and that mainstream adoption will be just 3-5 years in the future. Global subscribers are expected to increase from 16 million last year to 43.2 in 2008, and by 2011, 300 million subscribers are expected worldwide. Respective revenues are expected to be $1.3 billion this year, up from $485.1 million last year, eventually increasing to $8 billion in 2011.
There are technologies in the works that will make GPS cell phones more accurate at pinpointing a user’s location as well. Currently, signals can be thrown off by densely built-up metropolitan areas, tunnels and indoor areas. But new innovations like eGPS (enhanced GPS) and triangulation technology in development by location-based services company CSR, accuracy will soon have a margin of error of only 30-100 meters. This’ll make GPS a lot more handy for keeping track of your kids or locating the nearest coffee shop, without worrying about thrown off signals leading you 5 km in the wrong direction.
