Communications & Networks

1H 2008 shipments of China's GPS mobile phones reached 1.37 million, up 81.9% YOY.  GPS is typically offered in China's mid-range to high-end mobile phones. CCID Consulting projects shipments to reach 2.8 million by the end of 2008 up 100% YOY.

Note: GPS mobile phones are defined by CCID Consulting as those that adopt gpsOne position location technology and related chips.

Nokia and Samsung lead.

The combined 1H08 shipment shares of Nokia and Samsung account for over 50% in China. More specifically, Nokia had a 35.7% shipment share, while Samsung's was at 20.9%.

The Nokia N82 and 6110 Navigator have done extremely well, and their shipment shares alone account for over 30%. Nokia also launched its E71 phone with A-GPS functionality. Samsung did well with its rich product line and excellent price performance, while its W series are trending well.

Amoi did well with its GPS mobile phone green upgrade promotion, with its N5 and N6 phones attracting the Chinese consumer. Amoi also launched its GPS smart phone N7. Dopod GPS products tended towards the lower-end, and its P660 was received well. Other vendors rounding out the top eight include Lenovo, Mio, ZTE  and Tianyu.

Olympics and 3G drive demand.

CCID Consulting expects the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will have a stimulating effect on location services in 2H08. CCID Consulting also expects China's telecom operators to further develop and mature their 3G networks, which in turn will further enable more powerful GPS-enabled applications and devices.

Currently, China's telecom networks have some basic location services. For example, China Unicom's CDMA network can support Qualcomm's gpsOne technology, as well as China Mobile.

Looking towards the future, China's three telecom operators will have resource, technology, and subscriber advantages that can significantly increase GPS mobile phone adoption and capabilities. CCID Consulting believes that operators should set up programs to attract and foster the Chinese user to GPS.

Integrated GPS solution at the chip level.

Chip vendors have accelerated their capabilities in GPS, either through acquisition or innovation. Multinational vendors include SiRF, Qualcomm, Broadcom and NXP. This year, CSR successfully integrated GPS and eGPS as a solution. Chinese domestic IC vendors are also solidly competing, such as Xi'an HuaXun and Hangzhou Zhongke Microelectronics.

In summary, the mobile phone GPS chipset continues to mature along with map data completeness. GPS and high-end phone prices will continue to decline, while operator 3G networks will continue to improve. These are factors that look bright for GPS movile phones.

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Unless otherwise specified, all information provided is sourced from CCID Consulting.

Ó 2008 CCID Consulting Co., Ltd.