Research firm iSuppli released a report today predicting that smartphone navigation will surpass standalone PND navigation by 2014. At the heart of the prediction is the growing proliferation of smartphones and accompanying navigation applications–especially those from big names in the PND industry such as TomTom and Navigon.
iSuppli states that PNDs will lead the market in 2009, with approximately 114 million units shipping compared to only 57.8 million GPS-enabled smartphones. But by 2011, the research firm believes that all nearly all smartphones will ship with a GPS chip. If this happens, nearly all smartphones will have the functionality of a mid-range PND. By 2014, predictions put navigation-capable smartphones at 305 million units compared to only 128 million PNDs.
These numbers require nearly flat growth for the PND market for the next 5 years. In fact, iSuppli believes the current market shares for Garmin and TomTom will remain the way they are for good. If there is any growth at all it will be in emerging markets like the Asia-Pacific where mapping has been sub-par thus far.
