The rising demand for handheld GPS receivers has enabled manufacture of combination and standalone handheld, multimedia embedded GPS receivers. In Taiwan manufacturers of GPS receivers are highly export oriented. While GPS makers in Taiwan do not develop the software for mapping themselves, Holus and Fortuna have intentions of developing the mapping software in-house in the next few months.

More than 85% of sales come from foreign markets. And the main exporters include North America, Western Europe and Asia.

In Taiwan handheld and in-vehicle GPS receivers are currently the major drive in production. There is a strong possibility of growth in handheld applications, in both standalone and PDA-based forms. The models at present have a rich variety of features intended to bind the consumer market. The manufacturers conduct continuous R&D and it is expected to bring out multi-media capable models with wireless capabilities.

Statistics show that Taiwan’s export of handheld GPS-enabled products, mainly PDAs and phones with GPS capabilities, reached 3.18 million units in the second quarter of 2005. Exports of PDAs with embedded GPS were 1.10 million units during the same quarter. Taiwan’s total export revenue in H1 FY05 amounted to 6.1 million units as compared to 3.8 million units in H1 FY04.

In their recently published market research report, “GPS Market Update – 2006", RNCOS analysts provide an in-depth view of the market scenario and the influence of the technological advances in the field of GPS services on the varied application growth opportunities.

According to the report GPS market thrives on growing consumer demand. As the IC prices decline, the consequent decline in the prices of GPS hardware products will facilitate the entry of these products in the consumer market. This will result in new applications, which will boost R&D and thereby enable further growth.

The market research report has its central focus on the impact of GPS, the development and limitations in the market, along with a significant vision into the ongoing related technological issues.

The report gives a detailed analysis of the company profiles of 12 major players in biotech industry including Rockwell, Trimble, Leica Geosystems Holdings AG, SiRF Technology & CSI Wireless Inc.