ABI Research: GNSS Receiver Shipments to Increase Sevenfold by 2011

October 17, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS

More than 40 million global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receivers were shipped in 2005.

But, according to ABI Research, that number will grow to nearly 300 million shipments by 2011, according to a new study from ABI Research that tracks GNSS markets across 11 vertical industry segments.

That growth will not occur evenly across the board, analysts said. In 2005, in-vehicle navigation systems accounted for just 26% of the total shipments, but 34% of worldwide GNSS hardware revenues.

In contrast, by 2011, in-vehicle navigation shipments will represent just 16% of the total market, but will still deliver 29% of the hardware revenue.

Analysts said the most significant trend, however, is the growing importance of the communications sector, almost entirely made up of global positioning system (GPS)-enabled handsets.

"In 2005, communications accounted for 43% of the total market in terms of shipments," said ABI Research director Frank Viquez. "In 2011, that will have grown to 69%, but the revenue derived from it will have doubled, from just 9% in 2005."

Much of that additional growth will come from the mass uptake of GNSS services by the majority of the world's mobile subscribers who use GSM handsets. As that trend develops, analysts said the fastest regional growth - which until now has been in North America and parts of Asia - will shift to Europe.

While communications will be the standout, and portable navigation - buoyed by falling prices and a flood of new offerings - will remain a strong and popular application, analysts said other sectors will show more modest gains. Garmin, TomTom, Magellan, Thales, Trimble and more specialized GNSS vendors such as Rockwell Collins, Leica and Honeywell will see a variety of expanding opportunities.

"Military applications will increase," said Viquez, "especially driven by the U.S. military's aggressive push to equip not just vehicles, but individual soldiers with GPS. Civil aviation will see some growth due to the increasing popularity of regional commuter and executive jets. The deployment of the European Galileo GNSS satellites will boost mapping and surveying applications as well - the more satellites in the sky, the greater the availability of the signal, and the more accurate the location data it provides."

Source: ABI Research.