GPS-enabled cellphones to hit 834M units by 2012

Global shipments of GPS-enabled mobile devices will grow at 40% per year for the next five years to reach 834 million units in 2012, according to a new report from Parks Associates.
The forecast includes personal navigation devices, mobile handsets and smart phones, portable media players and personal digital assistants. The majority of shipments until 2012 will be mobile handsets and smartphones, but PNDs will remain the most widely used and preferred navigation device for the next three years, said the firm.
“GPS will come to your mobile handset as a standard feature, but mobile carriers are still a couple of years away from turning GPS into a money-making, mass-market feature,” said Harry Wang, senior analyst at Parks Associates.