Portable Navigation Revenues to Top EUR8bn in Western Europe by 2012
A new report from Juniper Research estimates that revenues from portable navigation solutions, including PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices) and software solutions for multiuser devices, will exceed €8.3 billion (US$8.4 billion) in Western Europe by 2012.
PNDs have been one of the great consumer electronics success stories of the past two years, with product ranges from suppliers such as TomTom reporting revenue growth of 89% for financial year 2006.
Revenues from PNDs are currently estimated to account for over 90% of the portable navigation market in Western Europe, with other navigation solutions losing market share in the face of the PND onslaught in recent years.
- Necessity - whilst few products are absolutely necessary, increasing congestion on European roads has brought products aimed at congestion avoidance to the fore.
- Affordability - GPS device prices have plummeted in recent years, as sales volumes have increased. TomTom, the market leader in europe, reports average selling price for PNDs as dropping from €464 (US$662) in 2004 to €270 (US$385) in 2006.
- Product capability - fuelled by increasing demand, product capability has improved over the last three years making hitherto top end features commonplace and shifting Sat Nav devices from "nice to have" to "must have" for many regular drivers. In Western Europe, Juniper Research expects the percentage of vehicles using PNDs to grow to 22% by 2012.
- Peer group pressure - the domino knock-on effect and the realisation that someone else has something which is really useful. This is a powerful purchase incentive.
- Convergence in consumer electronics product - progress towards the ubiquitous personal entertainment and communications device continues, as manufacturers produce devices capable of running an wide range of applications with increasingly acceptable performance in all areas.
However, there are a number of threats to the future rate of PND market growth on the horizon and Juniper Research feels that the tide could turn again in the next two to three years.
Report author, Bruce Gibson commented "PND sales in Europe are booming at the moment, but it can't last for ever. There are already signs of growing maturity in the earliest developed European markets, prices are continuing to fall and there is strong competition from original equipment in-vehicle navigation solutions and from software solutions for multipurpose devices, particularly mobile phones."
Posted to the site on 23rd October 2007
