12 million GPS devices were sold during the first 9 months of 2006 and in 2007 the figure is likely to jump to 28 million according to market research firm Canalys.
The majority of units on the market at present are custom designed units such as in car satellite navigation systems, marine GPS systems or outdoor GPS handhelds.
Analysts are predicting that the focus will shift to the mobile phone during 2007, staring with the revolutionary Nokia N95, and see GPS software becoming popular on high end devices.
Once phones have the GPS chips installed a wide variety of systems such as maps and navigation software as well as restaurant finders become possible. Current systems such as Orange Local already do this but only to a limited extent and without the accuracy of GPS.
In countries such as the US, Korea and China the GPS phone is almost mainstream 83 million GPS enabled handsets were shipped to these countries last year alone.
The main reason for the large adoption in the US is down to a 1999 FCC ruling stating that all phones have to contain a GPS chip so that the emergency services can pinpoint calls to the 911 control centre.
GPS systems are complicated and rely on the unit being able to connect to a satellite overhead. Modern mobile phone technology is being used to track which area or cell the phone is in and tell it which satellites should be within range. This speeds up the unit as it doesn’t need to attempt a connection with satellites that are out of range.
The number of services that GPS enabled phones will bring is limitless. Already several companies in the US offer child and pet location services as well as a method to alert you if a friend is close by.
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GPS is going to revolutionalize the Mobile phone industry. Many people travel around the world and many more in the future, this makes GPS a necessity. GPS helps people to travel around the world without the barrier of language,
Vinu