Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - GPS-Enabled Mobile Handsets Shipments to More than Quadruple by 2011

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Global shipments of mobile handsets equipped with GPS capability are expected to more than quadruple from 2006 to 2011 due to the U.S. government’s mandate for Emergency 911 capability as well as wireless operators’ initiatives to offer location-based services (LBSs), according to iSuppli Corp.

GPS-equipped mobile handset shipments will increase to 444 million units by 2011, rising from 109.6 million units in 2006. By 2011, 29.6% of all mobile phones shipped will have GPS capability, up from 11.1% in 2006.

“Besides cameras, multimedia capabilities and connectivity solutions, mobile-handset OEMs increasingly are investigating the integration of GPS functionality in mobile devices as a value-added product differentiator,” said Tina Teng, analyst, wireless communications at iSuppli. “Wireless carriers are looking at introducing various new GPS-based, revenue-generating services to increase average revenue per user.”

Such LBSs are the key services that could drive up ARPUs. LBSs include a broad range of value-added services that incorporate user location pinpointed by satellites or other tools with location databases. The most common services are user location, turn-by-turn navigation, location search, tracking, information services and social networking.

E911 mandates also are driving the expansion of the GPS-enabled handset market in the U.S. The U.S. FCC in 1996 issued a report that requires all operators to precisely locate the position of wireless callers making emergency 911 calls. The regulation was implemented in three phases: Phases 0, I and II. Phase II of the E911 implementation requires all operators to deliver specific latitude and longitude information of the caller, also known as Automatic Location Identification (ALI). This can be accomplished using a GPS-enabled mobile handset.

The U.S. and South Korea are expected to be the leading regions for GPS-enabled mobile handsets. Europe will be the next largest GPS-enabled handset market as GPS functionality penetrates into smart phones.