Application Processor & GPS

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Strong Application Processor Growth Offset by Integration and Declining ASPs
Mobile Devices Research Service |Wireless Semiconductors Research Service |Application Processors in Mobile Devices
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - January 29, 2008
Contact: Nicole Fabris
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www.abiresearch.com
As the wireless handset market surpasses 1 billion units shipped per year, application processors are an increasingly important enabler of multimedia capabilities in high-end smartphones and feature phones.  However, according to a recent study from ABI Research, this growing market will face several key challenges over the next several years.
“Over the course of our forecast period, from 2007 to 2012, strong unit growth is expected to be offset by dropping unit prices,” says ABI Research senior analyst Doug McEuen. “After significant increases during the next two years, the decline in unit prices will compress the application processor revenue to a flat growth rate.”
In later stages of market development, application processor unit shipment growth is expected to decrease due to two key factors: integration, and the rise of the ULCH (Ultra Low-Cost Handset) market. Integration impacts the market negatively, as multimedia functions are combined into the baseband processors, fabricated using 65nm or 45nm process technology. Low-cost handsets, which will not require an additional application processor given their limited multimedia functionality, likely will increase market share within the overall wireless device market – further contributing to the decrease in application processor unit growth.
In 2012, application processor revenue is expected to reach nearly $2.8 billion, with unit shipments of 553 million, at a cost of $5.04 per unit.
ABI Research notes that over the next several years, the smartphone segment will be the largest market for application processor unit shipments. Although smartphone revenue will decrease from $3.3 billion in 2007 to $2.1 billion in 2012, it will continue to dominate the market.
“One device with the strongest growth over the same forecast period is the high-end feature phone, or enhanced phone, as unit shipments are expected to increase by 42%,” concludes McEuen, “while revenue will rise by almost 21%.”
Application Processors in Mobile Devices presents an in-depth exploration of application processor technology and the requirements for competitive architectures, including essential product capabilities. The report discusses short- and long-term market implications, and includes key vendor profiles. It concludes with an extensive market forecast, using empirical data to track both positive and negative market forces. It forms part of two ABI Research Services:Mobile Devices andWireless Semiconductors.
ABI Research is a leading market research firm focused on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets. Utilizing a unique blend of market intelligence, primary research, and expert assessment from its worldwide team of industry analysts, ABI Research assists hundreds of clients each year with their strategic growth initiatives. For information, visitwww.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.
GPS-Enabled Mobile Devices
Key Drivers and Latest Trends Pushing GPS Penetration in CDMA, GSM and WCDMA Handsets
The mobile industry is now ready for rapid growth of the GPS enabled handset market. From cost and technology perspectives, chipset manufacturers now have solutions in place that will allow the integration of GPS in handsets at low cost and provide significant improvements in terms of accuracy, time-to-first-fix, and reception in indoor environments. On the services side, mobile operators and navigation application developers are coming up with attractive location based services (LBS) offerings. Handset vendors are also showing increasing interest, not only in providing GPS-enabled handsets, but also in introducing their own GPS-centric applications and services.
This study focuses on the growing market for GPS-enabled mobile phones and the market opportunities as well as challenges for handset vendors, mobile operators, semiconductor vendors, and other industry players

What Does This Report Answer?
What positioning technologies are currently being used in mobile phones? What are the various approaches to integrating GPS in mobile phones? What are the key drivers, barriers and the latest trends influencing the market for GPS-enabled mobile phones? How are the declining costs of chipset solutions and technological developments driving the GPS-enabled handset market? What are the high level business and marketing issues, and critical considerations for addressing the GPS-enabled handset market? How can issues related to accuracy, time-to-first-fix, and GPS signal strength and reception in indoor environments be addressed? How big is the market for GPS-enabled mobile phones? Who are the key industry players and what are their initiatives to address the market for GPS-enabled mobile phones? What are the market opportunities for mobile operators, handset vendors, chipset manufacturers, satellite navigation companies and other industry players? How can handset vendors can benefit from offering increasing number of GPS-enabled handsets? What do handset vendors need to consider for developing attractive GPS-enabled mobile phones? How can mobile operators benefit from offering GPS-enabled handsets? What impact can GPS-enabled handsets have on mobile operators’ service revenues? How importance are GPS-enabled handsets for driving the LBS and navigation services markets? What are the regional trends for GPS-enabled handsets and opportunities in developed and emerging markets? What factors affect GPS penetration in the CDMA, GSM and WCDMA handset markets? What is the impact of growing GPS penetration on the overall handset market? What are the design and manufacturing issues faced by handset vendors in developing GPS enabled mobile phones? What are the issues surrounding the integration of GPS with other connectivity technologies? What are shipment and revenue forecasts for GPS-enabled handsets from 2005 to 2013?
Who Needs This Report?
Handset vendors Mobile operators and MVNOs Handset IC suppliers GPS IC suppliers Satellite navigation companies LBS companies System integrators GPS hardware suppliers ODMs and OEMs Content specialists Consulting firms Trade associations Financial institutions involved with mobile communications Venture capitalists and other investors Government agencies

Section 1.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 Market Drivers and Barriers
1.2 High-Level Business and Marketing Issues
1.3 Key Market Forecasts
Section 2.
KEY TAKEAWAYS AND STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1 Key Takeaways and Recommendations for Handset Manufacturers
2.2 Key Takeaways and Recommendations for Mobile Operators
2.3 Key Takeaways and Recommendations for Semiconductor Vendors
Section 3.
STRATEGIC OVERVIEW
3.1 Overview of Global Navigation Satellite Systems
3.2 GPS
3.3 Positioning Technology in Mobile Phones
3.3.1 Satellite-Based Systems
3.3.2 Network-Based Solutions
3.4 GPS Integration in Mobile Phones
3.4.1 Autonomous GPS in Handsets
3.4.2 A-GPS
3.4.2.1 Control Plane Architecture
3.4.2.2 User Plane Architecture
3.4.3 E-GPS
3.5 Industry Value Chain for GPS-enabled Handset Market
3.5.1 Handset Manufacturers
3.5.2 Mobile Operators
3.5.3 Semiconductor Vendors
3.5.4 GPS Receiver Developers and Equipment Manufacturers
3.5.5 Navigation Software and Application Developers
3.5.6 Regulators
Section 4.
MARKET FACTORS
4.1 Drivers for the GPS-Enabled Handset Market
4.1.1 Regulatory Requirements
4.1.2 Technological Improvements and Declining GPS Chipsets Cost
4.1.3 Opportunities in Location-Based Services Market
4.1.4 Consumer Interest in Navigation Services
4.2 Barriers to GPS-Enabled Handset Market
4.2.1 High Costs Associated with Integrating GPS in Handsets
4.2.2 Technical Challenges
4.2.3 GPS Remains Inaccurate in Some Areas
4.2.4 Poor Reception and Accuracy in Dense Areas and Indoor Environments
4.2.5 Handset Limitations
4.3 Impact on the Handset Market
4.3.1 Present GPS Penetration in Handsets
4.3.2 CDMA Market for GPS-Enabled Handsets
4.3.3 GSM Market for GPS-Enabled Handsets
4.3.4 WCDMA Market for GPS-Enabled Handsets
4.3.5 Impact on Handset ASP
Section 5.
TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS ISSUES
5.1 Reducing Power Consumption in Handsets
5.2 GPS Antenna Integration in Handsets
5.3 Determining the Approach to Provide GPS Functionality in Handsets
5.4 Ensuring Good Quality of Service
5.5 Integration of GPS with Other Connectivity Technologies
5.6 Regional Market Considerations
5.7 Impact on Satellite Navigation Companies
5.8 Developing Attractive GPS-Enabled Handsets
5.9 Mass-market Adoption of GPS-Enabled Handsets
Section 6.
KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS
6.1 Nokia
6.2 Motorola
6.3 RIM
6.4 HTC
6.5 CSR
6.6 SiRF Technology
6.7 Qualcomm
6.8 SnapTrack
6.9 Texas Instruments
6.10 Broadcom/Global Locate
6.11 NemeriX
6.12 Garmin
6.13 TomTom
6.14 Sprint Nextel
6.15 u-blox
6.16 Wherify Wireless Inc
6.17 Verizon Wireless
Personal Navigation Devices Will Be Complemented, Not Replaced, by Handset-Based Navigation Solutions
Automotive Infotainment Research Service |Location Aware Services Research Service |Consumer Navigation Devices and Systems
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LONDON - January 28, 2008
Contact: Nicole Fabris
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www.abiresearch.com
Over the next several years, mobile handsets will play an increasingly important role in portable navigation markets, with handset-based navigation devices reaching an annual sales volume of more than 96 million units by 2012. ABI Research observes that navigation device sales continue to outperform the industry’s expectations and forecasts, with the 2007 holiday season illustrating that the US market is quickly catching up to Europe in its embrace of navigation, particularly PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices).
The PND market remains characterized by a high rate of innovation, including real-time connectivity, multimedia functionality, and community and social networking features, along with enhanced integration into the car environment. “But consolidation and fall-out is accelerating in light of recent announcements from Cobra and ViaMichelin, who intend to quit the standard PND market,” says Dominique Bonte, ABI Research principal analyst.
Handset-based navigation will not challenge the PND navigation form factor in the near future; and despite the relative success of off-board navigation in the United States – with more than 4 million paying subscribers – PNDs remain the most user-friendly in-car navigation device.
Handsets will complement, rather than displace, PNDs, with a number of users owning more than one navigation device. Important barriers such as the lack of GPS handsets, especially in Europe (and the issue of indoor coverage), will have to be removed before handset-based location services can be adopted on a broader scale.
“While traditional, factory-installed in-car navigation systems remain expensive and are offered only as an option on mid- and high-end cars, their perfect integration into the car environment guarantees ease-of-use and safety,” continues Bonte. ABI Research expects penetration rates of factory-installed navigation systems in the United States and Europe to increase gradually to 30% by 2012, reaching an annual volume of more than 10 million units.
A recent report from ABI Research entitled,Consumer Navigation Devices and Systems, explains in depth the underlying reasons and drivers for the success of PNDs in the context of the broader navigation market. Moreover, the report defines the critical success factors for PND vendors to survive in an increasingly competitive and unforgiving marketplace. It provides a detailed SWOT analysis for each form factor, and is part of two ABI Research Services:Automotive Infotainment andLocation Aware Services.
ABI Research is a leading market research firm focused on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets.  Utilizing a unique blend of market intelligence, primary research, and expert assessment from its worldwide team of industry analysts, ABI Research assists hundreds of clients each year with their strategic growth initiatives. For information, visitwww.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.
GPS Semiconductors
The Global Market for GPS ICs in Mobile Phones and Consumer/Professional Navigation Devices
This study analyzes the penetration and growth of GPS positioning technology and the ICs that enable it across eleven different segments: aviation, IVNS, machine control, marine/rail, military, people and animal tracking, recreation, surveying and mapping, timing and synchronization, vehicle and freight/asset tracking, and communications. It identifies the trends and strategies driving each of these markets, and explores the effects they have on GPS penetration and GPS IC ASPs and revenues.
The research takes a particularly detailed look at the communications sector. It details the timelines for GPS’s arrival in mobile phones, and reviews its enabling chipsets and semiconductors. Regulatory, competitive, and consumer trends in regions such as North America, Europe and Asia are investigated, resulting in conclusions about the rate of adoption of GPS in the cellular handset. Most importantly, the study explains service providers’ strategies for offering Location Based Services are explained, and the effect that these have on GPS ICs in the handset. New technologies such as Galileo, MTSAT, and Gagan that are looming in the horizon are also evaluated.

What Does This Report Answer?
What are the application segments and equipment that will use GPS ICs? What are the major trends, market drivers, and product architectures in each of these segments? Who are the major players in each market, and what are their competitive strategies and roadmaps? How are GPS ICs used in mobile phones, both CDMA and GSM? What are the regulatory, competitive, and economic factors in different geographic regions that will determine the penetration of GPS in the handset? How will consumer interest in applications such as portable navigation drive the adoption of GPS in the mobile phone? What are the service providers’ strategies for offering Location Based Services, and how will they affect handset GPS adoption? What are the estimates of handset penetration rate and chipset ASPs for GPS out to 2011? How large will IC revenues be in the next five years? What are the details of the RF and baseband architectures of these ICs? When will vendors start to incorporate Galileo functionality in chipsets? What are the market shares of companies in the handset space and in the automotive space?
Who Needs This Report?
IC and semiconductor vendors GPS equipment manufacturers Handset manufacturers Infrastructure OEMs Cellular operators

Section 1.
Executive Summary 1.1 Key Findings1.2 Conclusions and Recommendations:
Section 2.
GPS ICs in Mobile Phones 2.1 Market Issues2.1.1 Market Challenges2.1.2 Current GPS-Enabled Handsets2.1.3 Galileo2.1.4 Glonass2.1.5 Other Satellite Systems2.2 Technology Issues2.2.1 Architectures2.2.2 Vendor Solutions2.2.3 Autonomous GPS vs. A-GPS2.2.4 Power Consumption2.2.5 TTFF (Time-to-First-Fix)2.2.6 RF Sensitivity2.2.7 Process Technologies and Form Factors2.2.8 Additional BOM2.2.9 Market Availability2.2.10 Integration of GPS with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi2.2.11 MS-Assisted vs. MS-Based GPS2.3 Forecasts and Market Shares2.3.1 GPS IC Shipments for Qualcomm CDMA Mobile Phones (Integrated GPS)2.3.2 GPS IC Shipments for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones2.3.3 GPS IC ASPs for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones2.3.4 GPS IC Revenues for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones
Section 3.
GPS ICs in Consumer Devices and Professional Markets 3.1 Market Issues3.1.1 Aviation3.1.2 In-Vehicle Navigation Systems3.1.3 Machine Control3.1.4 Marine and Rail3.1.5 Military3.1.6 People and Animal Tracking3.1.7 Recreation3.1.8 Surveying and Mapping3.1.9 Timing and Synchronization3.1.10 Vehicle and Freight/Asset Tracking3.1.11 Other Professional Segments3.2 Technology Issues3.3 Forecasts and Market Shares
Section 4.
Company List
Section 5.
Acronyms
Scope of Study
Sources and Methodology
Notes
List of Tables and Charts
Reasons for GPS in the Mobile Phone, by Region, Market Shares: GPS IC Vendors in Mobile Phones, 2005 Market Shares: GPS IC Vendors in Automotive, 2005 GPS IC Shipments for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones, World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC ASPs for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones, World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC Shipments for Qualcomm CDMA Mobile Phones (Integrated GPS), World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC Shipments for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones, World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC ASPs for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones, World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC Revenues for Non-Qualcomm Mobile Phones, World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC Shipments in All Other Segments, World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC ASPs in All Other Segments, World Market: 2006 to 2011 GPS IC Revenues in All Other Segments, World Market: 2006 to 2011 Market Shares of GPS IC Vendors in Mobile Phones: 2005, World Market: 2005 Market Shares of GPS IC Vendors in Automotive: 2005, World Market: 2005
CSR allies with Samsung on mobile GPS modules
Posted :23 Jan 2008
CSR announced that it has halved the cost of embeddedGPS solutions through a collaboration withSamsung Electro-Mechanics Co. The resulting products, based on CSR‘s GPS software and Samsung‘s module hardware, are said to bring best in class location-based services to mobile phones, media players andpersonal navigation devices, while taking the guesswork out of GPSRF design and allowing OEMs a short route to market.
According to ABI Research, the market for GPS enabled handsets alone is set to generate $50 billion in revenues this year, with that figure set to rise to $100 billion by 2012. CSR‘s software approach eliminates the need for a dedicated GPS baseband; this reduces the cost of the module to less than half of what competitors are able to offer, and offers manufacturers a low cost route to take advantage of this high growth market.
The 9.8mm x 9.8mm x 2.15mm Samsung module is based on the SiGe Semiconductor SE4120S GPS RFIC and is a complete GPS RF subsystem, including voltage regulation, RTC and TCXO, SAW filter and LNA. When combined with CSR‘s GPS software running on a typical applications processor, the system achieves tracking sensitivity of -159dBm and has a cold start acquisition time of under 40s.
Stuart Strickland, VP of CSR‘s location business unit said, "Our software architecture already allows the lowest cost design for embedding GPS in high volume applications and we‘ve seen strong interest from tier one mobile handset and consumer electronics companies. By partnering with Samsung, we are now able to completely eliminate a complex, risk-laden and time-consuming step in the product design and integration process, thus making this lower cost alternative available to a much broader range of customers."Future products will integrate GPS with CSR‘s technologies forBluetooth and FM. CSR will be demonstrating its software-based GPS technologies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.
Sales in China‘s GPS market to exceed 1.5 mln sets in 2007
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2007-08-14 12:55
China‘s post-installed global positioning system (GPS) navigation software market will grow to more than 1.5 million sets this year from 80,000 in 2006, according to research conducted by CCID Consulting Co., Ltd.
Post-installed GPS navigation software is the software that is installed after purchase in an auto navigation system and has expanded to portable equipment, such as mobile phones.
"Apart from the rocketing sales of automobiles, the surge will also come from the mushrooming market of post-installed GPS navigation terminals, such as mobile phones and lap-tops," said Wei Yuhuai, general manger of the CCID research center of the consumption electronics industry.
"Sales of mobile phones with navigation functions are expected to hit more than 300,000 in China this year, which will bring about the same amount of post-installed GPS navigation software."
Since the third and fourth quarter are traditionally busier, sales would accelerate, he added.
Sales of post-installed GPS navigation softwares reached 233,200 sets in the second quarter, almost double the first quarter and up 1,602.2 percent from the same period last year, said the CCID report.
Based on sales volume, NaviOne, Lingtu, Cityonmap, Cn-map, NavInfo and AutoNavi were the top six sellers in the second quarter.
The report showed that up to 33.3 percent of consumers download pirate copies from the Internet as their first choice to update systems while only 20 percent updated through service centers.
Beijing-based CCID Consulting was the first Chinese consulting firm to list in the Growth Enterprise Market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is directly affiliated to the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID Group).
Garmin‘s mobile strategy? Hardware!

Garmin yesterday night announced its entry in the club of mobile phone manufacturers with the launch of the Nuvifone, a handset combining voice, navigation and mobile browsing. With 3.5G connectivity, WiFi, Bluetooth, a camera and 3.5 inches touch screen it does offer some of the best of today‘s technologies. But is it enough to make the Nuvifone a success?
GPS-enabled phone or phone-enabled GPS?
The GPS functionality is core in this device with navigation, local search with Google, geotagging of pictures with the embedded camera and access to Google‘s Panoramio, an online database of geo-tagged picture. This partnership with Google is seen as a strong point by the industry: “it is interesting to see Garmin partnering with Google. From a navigation software perspective it will give them access to unlimited points of interest, richer content”, said Chris Hazelton, Senior Analyst at IDC Research. For Peter Friedland, equity research analyst a Soleil group: “We believe it is very important for Garmin to figure out ways to work with Google because we ultimately believe Google will be a dominant player in the mobile market with location-based search”.
However, there is nothing revolutionary in this phone. We would have expected a bit more from a Garmin phone, something really unique that could push the fans of the brand to buy it. It could have been a “complete GPS experience” with some additional software such as outdoor navigation, sport and fitness monitoring or geocaching - all of it being already available from Garmin but in multiple products. Or even some “buddy finder” type of application linked with IM, Facebook, or any other popular Web 2.0 social website.

Even if Garmin is not willing to talk about it now, screenshots from the Nuvifone seems to demonstrate it has a proprietary operating system. It means there will be no way to enhance its functionality with additional software such as “Blackberry-like” corporate push emails or any other third party application. Under this angle, the Nuvifone is not a Smartphone. As pointed out by Chris Hazelton: “This is the first convergence of a Personal Navigation Device (PND) and a phone; it might look like a semantic distinction, but it is not the same thing as the convergence between a PDA and a phone, which is a Smartphone”.
Launched less than two weeks before the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Nuvifone might find there some strong competitors. According to rumors, Nokia could launch a N98 Smartphone that would feature a large touch screen, a seven megapixel camera, GPS and the in-house Nokia Maps navigation software. Sony Ericsson is also expected to refresh its Smartphone line-up with built-in GPS and Wayfinder navigation software. On a larger scale most of the Smartphone vendors are expected to launch their next devices with built-in GPS, Apple iPhone included.

A “hard-ware” way into the mobile space
The Nuvifone illustrates Garmin‘s core know-how: hardware. It seems Garmin‘s executives could not resist entering the mobile phone market with hardware, even if there is probably more risk than a software strategy.
Peter Friedland at Soleil Group echoes this concern: “In a perfect world we would prefer to see Garmin enter a relationship with a handset vendor like Apple (i.e., Garmin navigation software on the iPhone) or a relationship with a major carrier interested in aggressively promoting a Garmin offboard solution – this would allow access to a much broader user base without requiring Garmin to compete in the wireless handset market. That said, these scenarios might never come to fruition, and at least by putting their own device on the market Garmin is more in control of its own destiny”.

So far the company has been present on the cell phone market with its navigation software that runs on-board or off-board on multiple platforms: Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Java phones. But Garmin has not been highly successful in this area. Garmin‘s on-deck presence with wireless carriers is limited to Helio and Sprint (among four other navigation applications) in the U.S. and the company has no carrier customers in Europe. With handset manufacturers Garmin has a few deals here and there but nothing significant; its partnership with Palm is limited by the fact Palm has no GPS-enabled handset to date. Further, “By entering the market with a handset, we believe this reduces the likelihood that other handset vendors would be interested in working with Garmin”, notes Peter Friedland.
An alternative for Garmin could have been to fulfill its ambition on the cell phone market with one or several acquisitions. Buying a mobile navigation software provider such as Telmap, Wayfinder, Telenav, Networks In Motion or Jentro - that has already strong ties with wireless operators or large handsets manufacturers – would have been an easy way. Garmin had over one billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of the third quarter of 2007; a company such as Wayfinder, listed on the Nordic Growth Market (NGM) stock exchange, has a market capitalization of $36 million.
Garmin will announce its full year financial result on February 20, we guess its management will further develop its mobile strategy at that time.
Mio to work with Qualcomm for connected PNDs

PND manufacturer Mio Technology and Qualcomm today announced a collaboration to develop connected personal navigation devices (PNDs). These new connected PNDs will leverage Qualcomm‘s technology with the QST1100 chipset that integrates application processing, GPS and cellular connectivity (UMTS).
Mio was already displaying a concept of connected PND at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a few weeks ago (read here). The company‘s connected portable navigation system concept is a slim device that features a flat-panel design. It can conduct local searches for the latest point-of-interest information and other real-time data like gas prices and movie times.
Until now SiRF has been the exclusive supplier of GPS chipset to Mio. However this partnership with Qualcomm will not hurt SIRF in the short term: there will be some time before this kind of connected PNDs get shipped into large volumes.
CSR and Motorola to launch Industry Forum to advance location technologies

CSR and Motorola yesterday announced that they intend to create an open industry forum to evaluate and foster enhanced Global Positioning System (EGPS) technologies. The EGPS Forum is expected to advocate improvement to location technologies in mobile devices and is committed to meeting consumer and regulatory needs for precise and consistent levels of location information.
According to CSR and Motorola: "Current commercialized location technologies meet the basic needs of consumers and minimum regulatory requirements for widespread use in mobile phones. However, high value commercial services require location technologies that provide prompt, consistent and reliable position information, even indoors, within the limited power budget of a portable device. Emergency services also require accurate indoor positioning". The intended goal of the EGPS Forum will be to ensure that technologies that enhance GPS are put in place to meet these advanced requirements.
The EGPS Forum is expected to be open to a broad array of participants from the telecommunications industry, including handset manufacturers, location technology companies, network infrastructure providers and mobile network carriers. Initial activities of the Forum will focus on evaluating hybrid technologies that enhance GPS by combining satellite measurements with timing measurements taken from cellular networks and on establishing the underlying infrastructure to ensure full interoperability of this technology.
CSR and Motorola expect the procedure for EGPS field trials and performance testing to be in place in the first half of 2008.
Tuesday 29th January 2008
SiRF refines its GPS software to reduce PNDs‘ start time

SiRF Technology, a leading provider of GPS semiconductors, yesterday introduced SiRFInstantFixII, a software enhancement to its GPS chipsets that is designed to significantly improve the start-up times of portable navigation devices (PNDs) and other mobile navigation devices. SiRFInstantFixII can achieve GPS start-ups in as little as five seconds, promises the company.
"Our groundbreaking SiRFInstantFixII technology makes the frequent start-up waits for PNDs a thing of the past," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing for SiRF Technology. "By not requiring any network connectivity or downloads, it significantly improves the daily navigation experience for consumers of mobile navigation devices."
Samuel Wang, President of Mio Technology, a SiRF customer, said: “we believe that eliminating the start-up wait commonly experienced by many PND users is a great step in the direction of a seamless user experience. Through our close alliance with SiRF, we look forward to bringing more innovative technologies to market.”

Technology
SiRFInstantFixII uses patent-pending algorithms that enable the PND to model the behavior of visible GPS satellites during the day and predict their position in the sky (the so-called “ephemeris” in GPS jargon) for up to three days in the future. SiRFInstantFixII continuously refines its calculations based on the latest data it receives from the satellites being tracked every time the PND is used. It performs these calculations completely autonomously, without ever needing updates of any kind from a network.
According to the company, “SiRFInstantFixII can reduce warm starts, the typical PND start-up mode, from over half a minute to as little as five seconds, and in urban canyons the difference can be even more significant”. SiRFInstantFixII is available immediately for both SiRFstarIII GPS receivers and SiRFatlas and SiRFtitan multifunction SoC navigation processors (Atlas and Titan were processors from Centrality, a company bought by SiRF in June 2007).
This technology was initially developed by Centrality and a flavor of it is already in use today under the name “Autonomy” in a PND from HP, the iPaq 314. According to several independent reviews the cold start of this device is very fast, often less than ten seconds and comparable to other devices using the connected version of SiRFInstantFix (where you have to plug the PND to a computer to download ephemeris once a week, a technology launched by SiRF two years ago). However, SiRFInstantFixII ephemeris have a 3 days lifecycle which means if the PND is not used for three days there are outdated and therefore the acquisition of GPS satellites is delayed.
Market leadership
With this technology SiRF continues to demonstrate its leadership on the PND segment of the navigation market. When the company launched its flagship SiRF StarIII chipset in 2005, the quality gap between this product and the previous generation (from SiRF and the competition) was so important than having this chipset onboard was almost mandatory for European retailers which were tired of their customer‘s complains about GPS lag time. Today the market is much different and far more competitive than it used to be, but SiRF could use SiRFInstantFixII to maintain its hegemony on the PND segment. Non-connected devices will continue to be the larger share of this market for at least a few years, therefore further improving their user friendliness with new technologies is probably a safe bet.
Thursday 03rd January 2008
How Disappointing Were They?
Symbian advertises marketing numbers published by Canalys for worldwide smartphone sales to point out that it maintains an overwhelming majority of the smartphone market, a share that has been increasing. Here’s the numbers reported for smartphones by operating system in Q1 2007:

Apple sold 270,000 iPhones in its first day and a half of sales.
• Palm sold 500,000 Palm OS Treos in the first three months of 2007. That’s less than twice as many units across 13 weeks, compared to Apple’s day and a half of iPhone sales.
• RIM sold 1,030,000 Blackberries in 90 days, less than four times as many phones as Apple’s day and a half.
• All of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile licensees–including Palm’s WinCE based Treos–added up to 1,510,000 units. In a sales period 45 times longer than Apple’s iPhone debut, that’s only 6 times as many phones.
Linux phones, including the closed phones Motorola sells in China, totaled 3.13 million, and various licensees of Symbian sold 15.75 million.
EMEA smartphone market growth rises to 11.7%
Posted byDusan on Saturday, October 28th, 2006 at 1:21 am underResearch
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Growth in the EMEA smart mobile device market in Q3 rose slightly from the previous quarter, but remains well below the 100%-plus rates seen for most of last year. Nokia’s lead, achieved largely through shipments of its consumer-focused Symbian S60 devices, remains comfortable. With new UIQ models shipping last quarter, fellow Symbian-based vendor Sony Ericsson re-entered the top five (in fourth place) after a long absence, helping take Symbian’s market share up to 78.7% from 76.6% a year earlier.

HTC, in second place, was by far the fastest growing of the leading vendors and remained narrowly ahead of third-placed RIM for the second quarter running (note: HTC shipment estimates shown include Qtek-branded devices, but not those branded by network operators or other hardware vendors, which are tracked individually). HP filled the fifth slot, suffering a year-on-year unit decline partly as a result of the continued shrinking of the handheld segment. It did, however, manage to increase shipments and share sequentially from Q2 2006. Canalys estimates that shipments of unconnected handhelds in the region fell to below half a million - a level not seen since Q3 2002 and a far cry from the million units seen in some quarters over the past two years.
“The shift in demand for consumer GPS navigation, away from handhelds to dedicated PNDs, can really be seen in these numbers,” commented Chris Jones, Canalys director and principal analyst. “It would not be surprising to see some vendors scale back their efforts in the handheld market within the next couple of quarters if the trend continues. Q4 will be pivotal, as it is typically the biggest quarter by far for this class of device and underperformance may cause vendors to re-evaluate their positions.”

The handheld’s decline has also had an impact on Microsoft’s overall share of the smart mobile device market. In Q3 2006 it is sitting at 16.9%, down from 18.0% a year ago, despite shipments of Windows Mobile based converged devices (smart phones and wireless handhelds) increasing by almost 80% year-on-year. In the converged device space, it is not only the HTC/Qtek-branded products that are generating growth, but also those branded by operators such as O2 and Orange. The new Palm Treo 750v available through Vodafone in Europe is also expected to make a significant contribution over the coming months.
“I’d be surprised if the Treo 750v did not exceed the volumes achieved by its Palm OS based predecessors in EMEA,” said Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham. “Windows Mobile is gaining traction with network operators and with enterprise customers looking at applications such as push e-mail. While RIM is still the vendor to beat in this arena, the competition is improving with each generation of devices. What vendors must ensure, however, is that they can go to the operators with not just one or two devices, but a portfolio that can address a range of customer segments, and a clear proposition behind each. One of the key benefits of an open operating system for device vendors is the ability to tailor their propositions and add value through software and they must make the most of this opportunity to differentiate.”
A concise analysis of trends in the worldwide smart mobile device and mobile GPS navigation markets, along with forecasts and SWOTs of the leading vendors, is available in the new Canalys 2006/2007 trends report, published this month and available for purchase from theCanalys web site.
1.5 mln portable navigation units shipped in the US in Q4 2006
1.5 mln portable navigation devices (PNDs) shipped in the US in the Q4 2006. Overall PND shipments for the year hit 2.9 mln units, up 269% on 2005. Garmin was market leader in 2006 with 50% share, ahead of Magellan and TomTom. The US represented 23% of the global market in the quarter, up from just 15% a year earlier.
Portable navigation market in 2006
2006 2005 Growth
Shipments Share Shipments Share YTY
Total 2,867,820 100.0% 777,280 100.0% 269.0%
Garmin 1,443,150 50.3% 389,910 50.2% 270.1%
Magellan 415,160 14.5% 181,460 23.3% 128.8%
TomTom 396,530 13.8% 100,590 12.9% 294.2%
Mio Technology 119,690 4.2% 610 0.1% 19521.3%
Lowrance 66,420 2.3% 32,720 4.2% 103.0%
Others 426,870 14.9% 71,990 9.3% 493.0%
Source: Canalys