US navigation market picks up speed

According to market research bureau Canalys, the US PND market has really sprung to life in 2006. More than 2.9 million units were sold in that year, which is growth of around 269% compared to 2005. The fierce competition between PND manufacturers in the last quarter of 2006 has led to more than one and a half million PND's being sold in that period.

Undisputed

Garmin remains the undisputed market leader in the United States, more than half of all the PND's sold are manufactured by this US company. Garmin’s market share remained more or less stable in 2006, the competition never really came close, and Garmin’s position seems untouchable. The number two in the US is still Magellan, who's market share dropped significantly, from 23% in 2005 to 14.5% in 2006.

	2006	%	2005	%
Garmin	1.443.510	50,3	389.910	50,2
Magellan	415.160	14,5	181.460	23,3
TomTom	396.530	13,8	100.590	12,9
Mio	119.690	4,2	610	0,1
Other	493.290	17,2	104.710	13,5
Total	2.867.820		777.280

TomTom was able to use that drop to it’s advantage, it’s market share rose by 0.9% to 13.8%.

The Dutch company sold about 400,000 PND’s in 2006, which is about four times as many than the year before.

All PND manufacturers saw an increase in the volume of devices sold.

Successful

The biggest increase in market share was for Mio, which experienced a very successful fourth quarter. In the price battle around Thanksgiving, Mio was able to sell almost 120,000 devices. One year before, the Americans had hardly ever heard of this brand, and Mio only sold 610 (!) devices in total. At this moment, Mio is number four in the Personal Navigational Devices hall of fame.

According to Chris Jones, Canalys VP and principal analyst, the growth in the number of PND’s sold is only the tip of the iceberg. “"With a 'car-park' of over 200 million cars and light trucks in the US, the 2.9 million devices shipped in 2006 is just scratching the surface of US market potential. We expect the PND to become established as a consumer electronics category in its own right in 2007 and the market will at least double over the coming year."

Connectivity

Just like on the European market, more and more alternative PND manufacturers are appearing on the US market. Now that the battle in Europe seems won, with 10.1 million PND’s sold in 2006, a lot of the smaller manufacturers are trying their luck on the other side of the pond. In 2007 a lot of introductions and new PND brands are expected, according to Canalys, the consumer is in for a lot of developments, one of the most important being connectivity. Starting in 2007, PND’s will more and more be able to connect to the internet, and be updated with dynamic content. Companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo will play a big part in that.