The Sweden-based research firm also noted that this was
spurred by the fact that competition on PDNs have intensified.
The chief executive officer, Berg Insight, Mr. Johan
Fagerberg, affirmed this in a press statement available to ITRealms Online on
Monday, saying that in mature markets where the installed base of PNDs is
already high, the device category is facing increasing competition from smart
phones and low-cost in-dash navigation systems.
As said by him, aftermarket navigation systems would be the
largest segment for several years to come and many customers, especially in
Europe and North America, are likely to use more than one navigation capable
device for different occasions in the future.
He noted that the growing shipments of PNDs in markets such
as Brazil, China, India and Russia are not likely to compensate for the decline
in Europe and North America.
“Global PND shipments are forecasted to decline to about 23
million units in 2016,” he disclosed, adding that the number of mobile
subscribers using a turn-by-turn navigation application or service on their handset
doubled in 2011 and reached 130 million worldwide.
“The subscriber base is forecasted to grow at a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.9 per cent to reach 340 million users worldwide
in 2016,” he said.
On the broad availability of Global Positioning System (GPS)
handsets, Mr. Fagerberg pointed out that attractive pricing are key factors for
widespread adoption of mobile navigation applications.
Senior Analyst, Berg Insight, Mr. André Malm, said that the
global active installed base of smart phones surpassed 700 million units at the
end of 2011, which is approximately 15 per cent of all mobile phones in use.
He also said that about half of the current mobile
navigation subscriber base uses free applications and services that are bundled
with handsets or service plans from mobile operators.
“A growing number of mobile operators worldwide are
switching to bundled free-mium navigation services to offset the cost for end
users in response to free navigation applications (apps) for smart phones from Google
and Nokia,” he said.
Malm further noted that navigation application developers
and mobile operators are trying to monetise services by introducing premium
feature and content add-ons that allow users to customise navigation apps to
suit their personal needs.
“Since relatively few users need turn-by-turn guidance on a
daily basis, complementary features such as traffic information, speed camera
alerts, parking space information and local search become increasingly
important means to drive usage”, he pointed out.
This, Mr Malm said has continued to stimulated usage which
makes it imperative for developers and mobile operators to seek additional
revenues from location-based advertising and local offers.
Remmy Nweke
ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D
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