Research Firm Predicts 70M Mobile Nav Subscribers by 2014

According to a report made available by market research firm, Berg Insight, the number of mobile subscribers downloading navigation routes using their mobile handsets is expected to grow from 16 million users in 2008 at a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent to reach 70 million users in 2014.

The group suggested that the growing adoption will be driven mainly by the introduction of GPS-technology in Smartphone handsets and bundling of navigation applications with mobile devices or service plans.

Obviously, the growth will be driven by the embedding of GPS in smartphones, which only began in 2007. Meanwhile the anticipated launch of GPS enabled handsets in the US by AT&T and T-Mobile USA should fuel a market that already has six million active users.

It was discovered that the introduction of the first GPS enabled handset in Europe in 2007 has geared up a massive increase in the number of models available from Nokia and other manufacturers and especially the iPhones and GPS enabled devices.

According to André Malm, telecom analyst, Berg Insight, "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. The key challenge will be to convert these test-users into paying subscribers."