BOSTON, USA: Worldwide personal navigation device (PND) shipments almost doubled in Q2-09 to 8.0M, in a market growth recovery which largely reflects the aftereffects of an extremely poor Q1-09, as PND vendors reduced inventory, according to the Strategy Analytics' Navigation and Location Opportunities service.
The current market share metrics show some optimism and are reported in the report “TomTom, Garmin, and PND Sales, Shares, and Financial Metrics”. Auxiliary to this report, “Garmin Gains Market Share as PND Market Shows Recovery Signs and Connected Devices Emerge,” addresses industry speculation that the PND market will be subsumed by navigation on smartphones.
Joanne Blight, Navigation Director at Strategy Analytics, said: "Certainly, we expect very strong growth for navigation-enabled smartphones, but we think there has been far too much hype around the PND market being dead. In the short term, PNDs still offer product advantages over smartphone solutions, particularly in the automotive market and in PND feature bundling.”
John Canali, Navigation Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added: "Connected PND and smartphone navigation apps are emerging quickly. Recent product launches include TomTom, Garmin, ALK and Navigon. Monetization of connected navigation presents major price model and product positioning challenges and this will result in segmented product opportunities.”
Showing posts with label PNDs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PNDs. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
TomTom reveals powerful new TomTom GO x 50 series
BERLIN, GERMANY: TomTom has announced its new flagship series of portable navigation devices, the TomTom GO x50.
The three PNDs; TomTom GO 950, TomTom GO 750 and TomTom GO 550 combine TomTom’s leading IQ Routes technology, stylish design and powerful route calculation with a completely optimised user interface. Full attention has been paid to the integration of TomTom’s routing technologies into the user interface of the device, making it more intuitive and easier to operate.
“As the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps, it is our duty to constantly break new ground, developing unique technologies with the sole purpose of making the driver’s journey more reliable, predictable and affordable,” says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director of TomTom.
“All the models of the new TomTom GO x50 series have been designed to do exactly this. They are fast and easy to operate and take the stress out of any driver’s journey by providing the latest travel and delay times.”
The new TomTom GO x50 series calculates a route faster than ever before and ensures drivers are ready to go within seconds. It uses the world’s largest collection of historical speed profiles. This ever-growing database now includes over 800 billion historic speed measurements of 15 million road kilometres in 24 European countries.
Once on the road, the device is constantly checking if there is faster route, taking changing road conditions into account by using a combination of IQ Routes technology and RDS-TMC information.
The three PNDs; TomTom GO 950, TomTom GO 750 and TomTom GO 550 combine TomTom’s leading IQ Routes technology, stylish design and powerful route calculation with a completely optimised user interface. Full attention has been paid to the integration of TomTom’s routing technologies into the user interface of the device, making it more intuitive and easier to operate.
“As the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps, it is our duty to constantly break new ground, developing unique technologies with the sole purpose of making the driver’s journey more reliable, predictable and affordable,” says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director of TomTom.
“All the models of the new TomTom GO x50 series have been designed to do exactly this. They are fast and easy to operate and take the stress out of any driver’s journey by providing the latest travel and delay times.”
The new TomTom GO x50 series calculates a route faster than ever before and ensures drivers are ready to go within seconds. It uses the world’s largest collection of historical speed profiles. This ever-growing database now includes over 800 billion historic speed measurements of 15 million road kilometres in 24 European countries.
Once on the road, the device is constantly checking if there is faster route, taking changing road conditions into account by using a combination of IQ Routes technology and RDS-TMC information.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Vehicle scrappage to spur double-dip downturn for automotive?
EL SEGUNDO, USA: While government-sponsored scrappage programs may be mitigating the worst impacts of the automotive downturn in the short term, they may cause another sales downturn further in the future, causing a potential double-dip downturn for the global car market, according to iSuppli Corp.
Although iSuppli is forecasting global auto production will decline to 52 million units in 2009, down 25 percent from 2008, some commentators are talking about the green shoots of recovery appearing in the market, due to vehicle scrappage and incentive programs that are now being rolled out in many countries.
Such programs, sometimes referred to as “cash-for-clunkers,” offer discounts on the purchase of new vehicles to replace cars 10 years in age or older.
“These scrappage programs, however, could have a negative impact,” said Richard Robinson, principal analyst for automotive electronics at iSuppli, “They will simply bring forward—and some would say, distort—the natural buying cycle, creating a double dip. ”
Robinson continued: “Scrappage programs also are having a disproportionately negative effect on Tier-1 automotive infotainment system suppliers, as many countries have built-in green incentives with the maximum benefits given to those consumers who purchase lower-emission and, hence, lighter and cheaper vehicles.
"On the whole, these vehicles tend to be bought from the mid- and entry-level classes, which typically sport fewer added features. The result is fewer sales of feature-rich vehicles that offer a smaller number of the media, navigation and infotainment features provided by the top auto electronics suppliers.”
Navigating out of trouble
Nevertheless, as the car market stages a recovery starting in 2010, there will be a number of significant market opportunities for Tier-1 infotainment electronics and semiconductors suppliers. These opportunities include the growth of low-cost navigation systems that displace Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs), as well as the increasing demand for connectivity that will expand the supply chain to other segments of the electronics market.
This new supply chain will move the car well beyond the static environment of hardware and into the sphere of services, which will extend the sales possibilities for vehicle manufacturers and their service providers.
PND suppliers TomTom and Garmin, entering the automotive Tier-1 battle, are taking very different approaches as they look to extend their reach beyond the PND platform.
The figure presents iSuppli’s navigation shipment forecast for the OEM and aftermarket.
iSuppli: Global Forecast for Navigation Shipments by Platform (Thousands of Units)
Source: iSuppli, July 2009
Although iSuppli is forecasting global auto production will decline to 52 million units in 2009, down 25 percent from 2008, some commentators are talking about the green shoots of recovery appearing in the market, due to vehicle scrappage and incentive programs that are now being rolled out in many countries.
Such programs, sometimes referred to as “cash-for-clunkers,” offer discounts on the purchase of new vehicles to replace cars 10 years in age or older.
“These scrappage programs, however, could have a negative impact,” said Richard Robinson, principal analyst for automotive electronics at iSuppli, “They will simply bring forward—and some would say, distort—the natural buying cycle, creating a double dip. ”
Robinson continued: “Scrappage programs also are having a disproportionately negative effect on Tier-1 automotive infotainment system suppliers, as many countries have built-in green incentives with the maximum benefits given to those consumers who purchase lower-emission and, hence, lighter and cheaper vehicles.
"On the whole, these vehicles tend to be bought from the mid- and entry-level classes, which typically sport fewer added features. The result is fewer sales of feature-rich vehicles that offer a smaller number of the media, navigation and infotainment features provided by the top auto electronics suppliers.”
Navigating out of trouble
Nevertheless, as the car market stages a recovery starting in 2010, there will be a number of significant market opportunities for Tier-1 infotainment electronics and semiconductors suppliers. These opportunities include the growth of low-cost navigation systems that displace Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs), as well as the increasing demand for connectivity that will expand the supply chain to other segments of the electronics market.
This new supply chain will move the car well beyond the static environment of hardware and into the sphere of services, which will extend the sales possibilities for vehicle manufacturers and their service providers.
PND suppliers TomTom and Garmin, entering the automotive Tier-1 battle, are taking very different approaches as they look to extend their reach beyond the PND platform.
The figure presents iSuppli’s navigation shipment forecast for the OEM and aftermarket.
iSuppli: Global Forecast for Navigation Shipments by Platform (Thousands of Units)
Source: iSuppli, July 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Navigation solution providers face challenging market, increasing consolidation
STAMFORD, USA: Navigation solution providers are facing business challenges as growing competition, device platform diversity and undifferentiated value propositions are accelerating commoditization trends, according to Gartner Inc.
These factors are impacting navigation solution providers' and automakers' revenue opportunities and will lead to further market consolidation and margin decline.
In the first quarter of 2009, Gartner conducted surveys of 2,000 consumers in the US and Germany and found that navigation is the most-desired vehicle IT application among consumers — even more important than safety- and security-centric in-vehicle applications.
"US and German consumers show more interest in navigation solutions than in any other in-vehicle technology" said Thilo Koslowski, research vice president at Gartner.
"This is partly due to companies' aggressive marketing efforts, but it's also due to cost-conscious consumers' desire to leverage navigation offerings to minimize fuel consumption, as well as reduce driving-related pollution."
Despite the growth in use of navigation solutions, many providers are experiencing business challenges. Portable navigation device (PND) manufacturers in particular are facing increased commoditization.
This trend is further compounded by the weak global economy and growing number of available device platforms in the consumer electronics industry that offer navigation add-ons or downloadable applications. Gartner predicts that this will lead to further price declines and lower profit margins for PNDs over the next two years.
"Retail prices for an entry-level, unconnected PND product may be as low as $49 by 2012. That's around 10 percent of the average retail price of a standard PND device in 2004," said Koslowski. Some low-end niche PNDs may be priced even lower by offering only limited map data, smaller point-of-interest databases and basic displays.
Koslowski said that to protect future viability, navigation solution providers have two general strategic directions to choose from. The first is to achieve cost, price and distribution leadership in order to succeed with high sales volumes. However, by definition, only very few companies will be able to execute this strategy successfully.
The second strategy open to providers is to transform the current device-centric value proposition into a service-centric one. The service will be device-platform-agnostic and will be wirelessly accessible from any device and offered with a variety of billing options that consumers can choose from.
This approach will give companies the opportunity to become personal-navigation-service providers and create a foundation for continuous innovation and delivery of new location-aware features.
These factors are impacting navigation solution providers' and automakers' revenue opportunities and will lead to further market consolidation and margin decline.
In the first quarter of 2009, Gartner conducted surveys of 2,000 consumers in the US and Germany and found that navigation is the most-desired vehicle IT application among consumers — even more important than safety- and security-centric in-vehicle applications.
"US and German consumers show more interest in navigation solutions than in any other in-vehicle technology" said Thilo Koslowski, research vice president at Gartner.
"This is partly due to companies' aggressive marketing efforts, but it's also due to cost-conscious consumers' desire to leverage navigation offerings to minimize fuel consumption, as well as reduce driving-related pollution."
Despite the growth in use of navigation solutions, many providers are experiencing business challenges. Portable navigation device (PND) manufacturers in particular are facing increased commoditization.
This trend is further compounded by the weak global economy and growing number of available device platforms in the consumer electronics industry that offer navigation add-ons or downloadable applications. Gartner predicts that this will lead to further price declines and lower profit margins for PNDs over the next two years.
"Retail prices for an entry-level, unconnected PND product may be as low as $49 by 2012. That's around 10 percent of the average retail price of a standard PND device in 2004," said Koslowski. Some low-end niche PNDs may be priced even lower by offering only limited map data, smaller point-of-interest databases and basic displays.
Koslowski said that to protect future viability, navigation solution providers have two general strategic directions to choose from. The first is to achieve cost, price and distribution leadership in order to succeed with high sales volumes. However, by definition, only very few companies will be able to execute this strategy successfully.
The second strategy open to providers is to transform the current device-centric value proposition into a service-centric one. The service will be device-platform-agnostic and will be wirelessly accessible from any device and offered with a variety of billing options that consumers can choose from.
This approach will give companies the opportunity to become personal-navigation-service providers and create a foundation for continuous innovation and delivery of new location-aware features.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Demand for small/medium displays rises; will prices follow suit?
EL SEGUNDO, USA: Despite rising demand, a reduction in inventories and a marginal increase in prices some for a few small/medium-sized LCD panels in April, global pricing is expected to remain on a downward trend in 2009, according to iSuppli Corp.
“Demand for small/medium LCDs, i.e., those with a diagonal dimension of 9 inches and less, was boosted in March by surge in rush orders from Chinese manufacturers,” said Vinita Jakhanwal, principal analyst for mobile displays at iSuppli. “China’s demand has been stimulated by government rebates and a rural stimulus program created to promote sales of electronic products, including mobile phones, that use small-sized LCD displays.
“The demand outlook for these panels is expected to continue to improve because the small/medium LCD supply chain has corrected its excess inventory situation. With inventories down to low levels, LCD makers are restocking the channel with new products.”
However, this is having very little impact on small/medium LCD prices in general.
Of the 67 types of LCD panels tracked by iSuppli’s Small/Medium Display PriceTrak service, 41 declined in April compared to March. Only three experienced price increases, with the remainder unchanged from March.
These displays are used in seven types of products: cameras, digital photo frames, handheld computers/PDAs, mobile handsets, portable computers, portable DVDs and Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs).
Pricing trends are expected to continue to be weak in May, with only one type of small/medium LCD managing an increase.
The good news is that price decreases are moderating in April and May compared to the more significant declines seen in the first quarter, when suppliers cut prices in order to reduce inventories. However, this stabilization will be short term, with more declines returning as the inventory restocking effort ends.
Prices may take a further hit in the third quarter because suppliers are announcing some expansions in capacity, up from the low levels of the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. If this increase in capacity is not matched by a rise in end-user demand, prices will decline at a faster rate.
Mobile handset display pricing remains weak
Most suppliers of small/medium displays for the mobile-handset market are likely to decrease their prices for their Tier-1 customers
The figure presents monthly global average pricing for 3.5-Inch 320 by 480 LCD Panels (Pricing in US Dollars) by as much as 5 percent in the second quarter of 2009, although some spot pricing for rush orders from the local Chinese handset market may increase slightly.
Despite the current tough economic conditions, the smart- phone market continues to witness robust demand, and some panels for these products are likely to enjoy stable pricing or perhaps slight increases. For example, the 3.5-inch 320 by 480 display used in smart phones posted a 1 percent price increase in April.
Furthermore, Low-Temperature Polysilicon (LTPS) LCD panels continue to be in demand and are popular choices for high-end smart-phone displays. Nonetheless, LTPS LCD supply is likely to become constrained as demand picks up, with a few Japanese companies deciding to close their older-generation LTPS LCD fabs.
Many display suppliers, especially in Taiwan, are looking at increasing their market share and penetration into the large handset vendors, specifically for smartphone products. In order to win new projects, they are likely to be more competitive on prices.
For mobile handset displays, suppliers are able to reduce cost of panel production as they are using fully depreciated fabs.
“Demand for small/medium LCDs, i.e., those with a diagonal dimension of 9 inches and less, was boosted in March by surge in rush orders from Chinese manufacturers,” said Vinita Jakhanwal, principal analyst for mobile displays at iSuppli. “China’s demand has been stimulated by government rebates and a rural stimulus program created to promote sales of electronic products, including mobile phones, that use small-sized LCD displays.
“The demand outlook for these panels is expected to continue to improve because the small/medium LCD supply chain has corrected its excess inventory situation. With inventories down to low levels, LCD makers are restocking the channel with new products.”
However, this is having very little impact on small/medium LCD prices in general.
Of the 67 types of LCD panels tracked by iSuppli’s Small/Medium Display PriceTrak service, 41 declined in April compared to March. Only three experienced price increases, with the remainder unchanged from March.
These displays are used in seven types of products: cameras, digital photo frames, handheld computers/PDAs, mobile handsets, portable computers, portable DVDs and Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs).
Pricing trends are expected to continue to be weak in May, with only one type of small/medium LCD managing an increase.
The good news is that price decreases are moderating in April and May compared to the more significant declines seen in the first quarter, when suppliers cut prices in order to reduce inventories. However, this stabilization will be short term, with more declines returning as the inventory restocking effort ends.
Prices may take a further hit in the third quarter because suppliers are announcing some expansions in capacity, up from the low levels of the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. If this increase in capacity is not matched by a rise in end-user demand, prices will decline at a faster rate.
Mobile handset display pricing remains weak
Most suppliers of small/medium displays for the mobile-handset market are likely to decrease their prices for their Tier-1 customers
The figure presents monthly global average pricing for 3.5-Inch 320 by 480 LCD Panels (Pricing in US Dollars) by as much as 5 percent in the second quarter of 2009, although some spot pricing for rush orders from the local Chinese handset market may increase slightly.
Despite the current tough economic conditions, the smart- phone market continues to witness robust demand, and some panels for these products are likely to enjoy stable pricing or perhaps slight increases. For example, the 3.5-inch 320 by 480 display used in smart phones posted a 1 percent price increase in April.Furthermore, Low-Temperature Polysilicon (LTPS) LCD panels continue to be in demand and are popular choices for high-end smart-phone displays. Nonetheless, LTPS LCD supply is likely to become constrained as demand picks up, with a few Japanese companies deciding to close their older-generation LTPS LCD fabs.
Many display suppliers, especially in Taiwan, are looking at increasing their market share and penetration into the large handset vendors, specifically for smartphone products. In order to win new projects, they are likely to be more competitive on prices.
For mobile handset displays, suppliers are able to reduce cost of panel production as they are using fully depreciated fabs.
Monday, May 18, 2009
High growth forecasted for China navigation map market
NEW YORK, USA: Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its cataloguem the China Navigation Map Market Report, 2008-2009.
Compared to Japan, Europe and USA, Chinese car navigation market was still in its early stage. In 2008, the market penetration rate of car navigation in China was only 4.56 percent, far lower than the 60 percent of Japan, and 20-30 percent of both Europe and USA.
In 2008, car ownership reached at 149 million in China, among which 40 million are private cars, and about 6.8 million cars have installed navigation devices. Also, in 2008, the Chinese car navigation market sharply increased, a total of 3.1 million navigation devices were sold during the year, more than doubled of 2007.
The electronics map market scale is limited, accounting for 10-15 percent in the navigation industry chain. In addition, the electronic map database requires a long construction period, a large investment and high maintenance & updating cost.
The global key electronics map markets of Europe, USA and Japan, are monopolized by TA, Navteq and Zenrin respectively. Especially, Navteq and TA have become the transnational navigation electronics map providers.
Considering the nation security, there is an admittance system regarding the electronics map in china. Up to Mar, 2009, a total of 11 electronics map providers were approved by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, the key providers including NavInfo, AutoNavi, Ritu, Careland, Lingtu, Emapgo and City On Map.
NavInfo and AutoNavi focus on the original market, Ritu, Careland and City On Map focus on the aftermarket and portable navigation device market.
Compared to Japan, Europe and USA, Chinese car navigation market was still in its early stage. In 2008, the market penetration rate of car navigation in China was only 4.56 percent, far lower than the 60 percent of Japan, and 20-30 percent of both Europe and USA.
In 2008, car ownership reached at 149 million in China, among which 40 million are private cars, and about 6.8 million cars have installed navigation devices. Also, in 2008, the Chinese car navigation market sharply increased, a total of 3.1 million navigation devices were sold during the year, more than doubled of 2007.
The electronics map market scale is limited, accounting for 10-15 percent in the navigation industry chain. In addition, the electronic map database requires a long construction period, a large investment and high maintenance & updating cost.
The global key electronics map markets of Europe, USA and Japan, are monopolized by TA, Navteq and Zenrin respectively. Especially, Navteq and TA have become the transnational navigation electronics map providers.
Considering the nation security, there is an admittance system regarding the electronics map in china. Up to Mar, 2009, a total of 11 electronics map providers were approved by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, the key providers including NavInfo, AutoNavi, Ritu, Careland, Lingtu, Emapgo and City On Map.
NavInfo and AutoNavi focus on the original market, Ritu, Careland and City On Map focus on the aftermarket and portable navigation device market.
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