location based services TOP STORIES Navigon takes a sharp bend Known in Europe for its navigation software, the German company is making a sharp turn in its strategy from software editor to consumer electronics manufacturer. The company introduced this week two of its first home-made navigations systems featuring a sleek and elegant design and new software enhancements such as “Reality view” which displays signposts realistically,... 2007-03-17 Gartner US: « PND market is strong but today's winners will be seriously challenged » Thilo Koslowski, Vice President and Lead Automotive Analyst at Gartner Inc. has been following the global in-vehicle information technology market - navigation and beyond - for over 10 years. He gave an interview to GPS Business News, highlighting... 2007-03-14 Road safety legislation in Europe: a legal threat to PND manufacturers In the recent months a trend towards regulating the use of portable navigation devices has appeared in Europe, culminating in Switzerland where the government banned the use of satellite navigation devices offering a speedcam detection feature. If... 2007-03-13 MARKET DATA Market Data Canalys : 2006 US PND market figures According to Canalys, 2006 proved to be the year the US portable navigation device (PND) market came to life. Canalys estimates that 2.9 million PNDs shipped in the US in 2006, representing a tremendous growth rate of 269% on 2005. Just over 50% of the... Converged Mobile Device Market Surges Ahead on 42% Growth in 2006, According to IDC The worldwide market for converged mobile devices pushed past the 20 million unit mark during the fourth quarter of 2006, and past the 80 million unit mark for the year. According to IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped a total of 23.5 million devices during the fourth quarter of... GFK: two million PNDs sold in Germany in 2006, 330% growth According to GfK Marketing Services Deutschland, Portable Navigation Devices (PND) did particularly well last year, with four times as many bought in 2006 than in the previous year. In the total year 2006, two million devices were sold in Germany. ... ABI Research to launch a “Location Aware Services” Research Service ABI Research has announced the launch of its new “Location Aware Services” Research Service. The annual package includes Research Reports, Research Briefs, ABI Insights, and analyst inquiry support, and will be a resource for data aggregators, web portals, software developers, device and handset...

IN THE NEWS Chinese Tranzda selects u-blox GPS chipset for innovative smartphone 2007-03-16 Navteq announces 3D content 2007-03-15 TomTom Home: 1 million users 2007-03-15 Mediawatch: PND and car specialists in the US 2007-03-14 Canalys : 2006 US PND market figures 2007-03-14 Orange France launches assisted GPS 2007-03-14 Loquendo awarded for its text to speech solution dedicated to navigation devices 2007-03-12 Sony updates its GPS accessory for cameras 2007-03-12 Magellan eXplorist 500 LE handheld GPS now available in Europe 2007-03-08 Google & BMW: send a google map adress to you car 2007-03-08 BMW to work with Teleatlas 2007-03-06