270 mln A-GPS devices to be shipped in Europe by 2014

According to Berg Insight, the market for LBS platforms and middleware in Europe will return to growth in the coming years, with demand driven by E112 requirements and increasing adoption of A-GPS. Annual revenues in Europe for mobile location platforms, including A-GPS servers and middleware platforms, are projected to grow from about 17 mln Euros in 2008 to 34 mln Euros in 2014. Mobile operators are now responding by investing in network-based location technologies and new services. Particularly A-GPS will become very important as the installed base of GPS-enabled handsets in Europe is projected to reach 270 mln devices in 2014. Established LBS industry players will however face competition from new market entrants such as handset manufacturers and Internet players such as Google whose primary interest is to attract users for new services. In response the traditional LBS vendors will be compelled to deliver superior performance in close cooperation with mobile network operators.