GPS coming to GSM handsets, analysts say

location based services

SAN FRANCISCO — After years of anticipation, global positioning system (GPS) technology should finally arrive in a significant number of GSM mobile handsets in 2007, according to a new study by market research analyst ABI Research. The report also concludes that 25 percent of WCDMA handsets will incorporate GPS by the end of 2008, ABI said Tuesday (Oct. 9).
Alan Varghese, ABI principal analyst, cites several factors for the expected rise of GPS in GSM and WCDMA handsets. Among these factors are government regulations covering location technology for emergency services—such as the FCC-mandated E911 in the U.S.—as well as a recognized demand for location-based services (LBS), according to Varghese.
"The CDMA carriers who have had GPS integrated in their handsets since 2002 have been turning on location based services over the past year," Varghese said.
Varghese also cited economic incentives, as carriers continue to look for ways to increase data revenue per subscriber and recoup high licensing costs for 3G spectrum.
In a research note published Monday, analyst Satya Chillara of Pacific Growth Equities LLC (San Francisco), said he believes GPS technology is at the beginning stages of being embedded into GSM-based cell phones. The new Nokia N95 phone utilizes GPS technology from Texas Instruments Inc., Chillara said.
A spokesperson for GSM operator Cingular Wireless told EE Times Monday that the company has made available turn-by-turn navigation services for business customers on some high-end PDAs. The spokesperson said the company plans to roll out LBS on a wider basis by mid-2007. "You will see more and more devices with GPS built in," the spokesperson said.
ABI said it sees 2007 as the year the GSM carriers will issue requests for qualifications and vendor selection and IC integration for the handset OEMs will take place. By the end of 2008, a quarter of all 3G handsets will have GPS ICs included, and the average selling price of a GPS chipset will have dropped to $2.70, ABI said.
"Sirf [Technology Holdings Inc.] has been the leader in the GPS IC space for the last several years," Varghese said through a statement. "But in the mobile phone segment, Atmel/u-blox, Global Locate, GloNav, Nemerix, Texas Instruments, and u-Nav will soon be nipping at their heels."
Analyst Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.) described a more cautious outlook for the growth of GPS in GSM handsets. "What we are finding is [outside of CDMA handsets] it's mostly high-end phones and low-end 'child find' kind of phones," Strauss told EE Times. "The big rollout that we see is mostly in the high-end WCDMA phones" which carry higher price points and can shoulder the extra cost, Strauss said.
Last year, Strauss said, there were 48 million cell phone-specific GPS chipsets shipped, a relatively small quantity considering there were 830 million cell phones shipped.
ABI is now offering its complete new study, "GPS Semiconductors," through the company's Web site. Forward Concepts has been offering a 460-page study called "Cellular Chip Markets" since July