Europe, Middle East and Africa bought 720 000 GPS devices in first half of 2004

The first half of 2004 saw a marked rise in the shipments of GPS navigation solutions for handhelds in EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) according to Canalys. The number of units sold from January to June was over 720 000, compared to less than 700 000 for the whole of 2003.

Canalys research shows that almost 75% of navigation solutions for handhelds were sold as bundles (comprising a handheld, software, GPS module and associated car kit and accessories) rather than as a separate software purchase, with a further 9% being based on handhelds with integrated GPS, such as the Mio Technology Mio 168 and Navman PiN. This means that around 40% of all handhelds shipped in the six-month period were shipped as GPS navigation solutions.

In addition to handheld, wireless handheld and smart/feature phone based solutions, the Canalys Mobile Navigation service monitors shipments of transferable devices