| In the wake of personal navigation devices' | | | | |
| success, cellular carriers have started to | | | | However, as GPS begins to penetrate lower-end |
| offer on-board and off-board navigation | | | | phones, the cost, power consumption, and |
| solutions, as well as a range of LBS | | | | footprint of GPS chipsets will have to be |
| (Location Based Services) such as friend | | | | further reduced. This will be made possible |
| finder and local search on GPS handsets. | | | | by single chipset technology and the |
| | | | emergence in 2009 of combination chips |
| Community and social-networking-related | | | | integrating GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi all on |
| functionality, such as the sharing of POIs | | | | one die. |
| (Points of Interest) and geo-tagged pictures, | | | | |
| is also becoming popular and is expected to | | | | Major silicon vendors such as Broadcom, NXP, |
| boost GPS-enabled handset uptake as carriers, | | | | and Atheros are well positioned to develop |
| handsets manufacturers, and service providers | | | | such solutions following the acquisition of |
| look to capitalize on the LBS trend. | | | | GPS chipset vendors Global Locate, GloNav, |
| | | | and u-Nav, respectively. |
| "While most CDMA handsets are already | | | | |
| GPS-enabled and GPS is set to become a | | | | At the same time, the thorny issue of indoor |
| standard feature in GSM smartphones, GSM | | | | GPS coverage has to be addressed, since |
| feature phones are next on the agenda to be | | | | handset-based LBS services are frequently |
| equipped with GPS technology," says ABI | | | | used in challenging environments with reduced |
| Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. | | | | GPS signal strength. Network-assisted A-GPS |
| | | | and high-sensitivity GPS-receivers are |
| "GPS chipset vendors increasingly target | | | | becoming key requirements to reduce the time |
| handsets, looking for new markets and spurred | | | | necessary to acquire fixes and to improve |
| on by the recent dramatic growth of personal | | | | location accuracy. |
| navigation devices." | | | | |