Mobile Nav Subscribers to Number 70M by 2014

Market research firm Berg Insight forecasts the number of mobile subscribers downloading navigation routes using their mobile handsets will top 70 million by 2014.

That means the market would enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 27.9 million between then and the fourth quarter of this year, with 16 million current users. The growing adoption will be driven mainly by the introduction of GPS technology in smartphone handsets and the bundling of navigation applications with mobile devices or service plans, Berg said.

Following the introduction of the first GPS-enabled handset in Europe in 2007, there has been a massive increase in the number of models available from Nokia and other manufacturers. Increasing volumes have paved the way for widespread adoption of mobile navigation services in Europe, according to the market research firm. Nokia and Jentro are the leading players on the European market, ahead of Wayfinder, Masternaut, Appello and Telmap, while the U.S. market is dominated by Networks-in-Motion and TeleNav.

Although usage has taken off, the business models are not yet fully developed, Berg says. "The mobile industry is now starting to reap the benefits from the introduction of GPS-enabled handsets. However, most mobile navigation users only use the service during a free trial period," said André Malm, Berg telecom analyst. "The key challenge will be to convert these test users into paying subscribers."