Local Search Stats

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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060928/cgth027.html?.v=76
Approximately 109 million people (63% percent of U.S. Internet users)
performed a local search online last July, a 43% increase over July
2005, according to comScore research:

(LBS) Subscribers Will Total 315 Million

GPS-Enabled Location-Based Services (LBS) Subscribers Will Total 315
Million in Five Years, According to ABI Research

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In 2011, the total population of GPS-enabled
location-based services (LBS) subscribers will reach 315 million, up
from 12 million in 2006, according to a new study from ABI Research. Put
another way, that represents a rise from less than 0.5% of total
wireless subscribers today to more than 9% worldwide at the end of the
study’s 5-year forecast period.

“Regions of greatest growth will be North America and Western Europe,”
says senior analyst Ken Hyers. “The Asia-Pacific region will have strong
growth as well, but it will vary by market. Leaders South Korea and
Japan will continue to be engines of LBS growth, but North America,
which has seen strong business use for several years, is expected to see
significant consumer uptake in 2007 and beyond.”

The LBS market took off first in South Korea and Japan, driven by
personal navigation and some family- and people-finder services. In the
United States, Nextel and Sprint initially drove LBS adoption with a
focus on fleet applications. In 2006 Verizon Wireless also entered the
market and has three applications available currently, with as many as
five more planned for rollout over the coming months.

Market growth in Western Europe has been limited by the fact that very
few GSM/WCDMA handsets have GPS, but ABI Research expects that beginning
in 2007 and increasing in 2008, many more WCDMA 3G phones will contain
GPS chipsets, allowing operators to offer LBS. Anticipating this, at
least one additional operator will be offering GPS-enabled LBS in Europe
starting late in 2006. ABI Research expects that in 2007 at least four
major operators in Western Europe will follow suit.

“GPS services will drive the adoption of UMTS 3G handsets,” says Hyers.
“3G growth has been limited by customers’ low uptake of many 3G
services, making it uneconomical for operators to subsidize these
handsets heavily. GPS-enabled LBS is expected to lead subscribers to use
more 3G data services, and thereby to drive overall 3G handset sales.”

ABI Research’s new study, Location-Based Services
(http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_research/LBS),

Dash navigation pricing $600-800, $10-15/month

http://reviews.cnet.com/4532-10921_7-0.html?keywords=DemoFall2006

Dash did not make any official announcements as to pricing or
partnerships with carriers and search engines. However, the company did
say the Dash Express will cost around the $600 to $800, while the Dash
service will be similar to satellite radio subscription rates ($10 to
$15 per month). California drivers will be able to get the product first
as it hits select retailers in early 2007, while a national release is
expected in summer 2007. Stay tuned as we get more details and take one
out for a test-drive.

Dash Pricing

Dash did not make any official announcements as to pricing or
partnerships with carriers and search engines. However, the company did
say the Dash Express will cost around the $600 to $800, while the Dash
service will be similar to satellite radio subscription rates ($10 to
$15 per month). California drivers will be able to get the product first
as it hits select retailers in early 2007, while a national release is
expected in summer 2007. Stay tuned as we get more details and take one
out for a test-drive.

Compal Communications lands second GPS PND order from ViaMichelin

Compal Communications lands second GPS PND order from ViaMichelin

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Hot systems
Ruby Huang, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DigiTimes.com [Friday 4 August 2006]

Compal Communications, a major handset maker in Taiwan, has obtained a
second order for in-car GPS (global positioning system) portable
navigation devices (PNDs) from ViaMichelin following on a previous order
for ViaMichelin's X-950T, according to industry sources. Compal declined
to comment on the report.

Founded by the Michelin Group at the end of 2000, ViaMichelin is a
provider of GPS navigation solutions and products in the European market
and launched its first in-car PND model, the X-950T, in March of this
year, the sources indicated.

As ViaMichelin's second PND model is equipped with Bluetooth to connect
with communication devices and has an entry to medium level in price
range, Compal's experience in making GSM, CDMA, 3G handsets, Smartphone
and PDAs as well as its strength in procuring components, allowed the
company to win the bid, the sources indicated.

Thales Navigation Sells Magellan

San Dimas, Calif. — Thales Navigation, which markets the Magellan GPS
brand, and which is a division of Thales, has been purchase by an
investment group led by Shah Capital Partners for at least $170 million.

The new company will be known as Magellan.Henri Gaillard will remain CEO.

The purchase will help give Magellan more entrepreneurial freedom and
allow it to respond to market trends more quickly, said Gerald Hwasta,
operating partner of Shah Capital, noting that former owner Thales was a
defense conglomerate.

“Seven to ten years ago, Thales was a good owner for the business as it
sold more to professional markets,” said Hwasta.“As the GPS segment has
evolved, there’s been incredible growth in the consumer devices.” Shah
plans to “bring flexibility into the organization” and “put into place
consumer electronics best practices,” said Hwang.

Private equity investors in the group include Tudor Group, Galleon
Group, Consolidated Press Holdings, AIG Sun America and Eli Broad.

While NPD ranks Magellan as the third leading GPS brand in the US, with
14.2 percent of the market compared to Garmin’s 47.8 percent and
TomTom’s 25.2 percent share (from March through May 2006 in sales to
consumers), Magellan claims it is the number two brand with about 29
percent market share.It notes that NPD does not track sales in Radio
Shack, Wal-Mart and warehouse clubs. “Some of our biggest accounts are
those that NPD does not track,” said GaillardThales Navigation Sells
Magellan

Thales Taiwan GPS makers eye ODM orders from Thales Navigation

Thales Navigation, a leading provider, worldwide, of GPS (global
positioning system) navigation solutions and products, will be sold this
quarter to an investment group led by Shah Capital Partners (SCP), and
this may cause a change in the former's outsourced production
strategies, with several Taiwan makers interested in its new ODM orders,
according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Thales Navigation, headquartered in California, is a subsidiary of the
France-based electronics firm Thales, which focuses on aerospace and
defense technology. Thales Navigation will be renamed Magellan
Navigation following the acquisition by SCP, the sources indicated.
Thales Navigation has two GPS consumer-level lines under its brand
Magellan, the RoadMate series of in-car portable navigation devices
(PNDs) and the eXplorist series of outdoor handheld navigation devices,
the sources noted.

Kinpo Electronics, in Taiwan, has undertaken OEM production and assembly
of the RoadMate and eXplorist products for Thales Navigation. When
Thales Navigation reduced its R&D staff and outsourced product design,
in 2005, in an effort to minimize costs, Mitac International, another
Taiwan electronics manufacturer, received ODM orders for the RoadMate
800 series models, the sources indicated.

Unlike the RoadMate, the eXplorist product line has to be shockproof and
waterproof, to meet the needs of outdoor activities. Since Taiwan makers
have, to date, no substantial experience in developing products with
these features, Thales Navigation's eXplorist ODM orders will pose a
challenge to their design capability, the sources pointed out. However,
Kinpo, Mitac and other Taiwan makers, such as Lite-On Technology and
Jabil Circuit, are poised to compete for such ODM orders, the sources
added.

Americans get texting as SMS catches on

By Paul Taylor in New York

Published: August 29 2006 23:56 | Last updated: August 29 2006 23:56

After years of lagging behind Europe and Japan in the adoption of mobile
text messaging, US subscribers have finally caught the SMS (short
messaging service) bug.

A total of 48.7bn SMS messages were sent in the last six months of 2005,
up 50 per cent from 32.5bn in the first six months of last year,
according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA).

About 40 per cent of the more than 200m mobile phone subscribers in the
US now use text messaging, up from 25 per cent in 2003 but still far
behind the 60 per cent plus penetration rates in Europe.

“The US has been slow to adopt SMS,” admits Jim Ryan, vice-president in
charge of consumer data services at Cingular Wireless, the largest US
mobile carrier. Nevertheless, he believes that is changing.

Recent growth in mobile text messaging volumes reflects the success of
the leading US mobile carriers including the big three – Cingular,
Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel – in boosting subscriber awareness of
the service, which allows almost any mobile phone user to send a text
message of up to 160 characters almost instantly. Cingular has seen its
lucrative SMS traffic surge, boosted in part by SMS voting for
contestants on American Idol, the TV talent show.

Over the past year Cingular, a joint venture between AT&T and BellSouth,
recorded 64.5m SMS votes for American Idol, up 52 per cent from the
previous season. “American Idol was big and started people messaging,”
said Mr Ryan.

Overall Cingular had 26.5m active data customers and delivered 8.7bn
text messages and 131m multi-media messages – mostly camera phone images
– in the latest quarter.

Mr Ryan believes text messaging has been slower to take off in the US in
part because the economics of texting were not so compelling in the US
as elsewhere, and because early adopters – typically business
professionals and youth – had greater access to mobile e-mail devices.

Mobile carriers in the US have begun to address the first issue by
offering subscribers bundles of lower-cost SMS messages that start at $5
a month for 200 messages and make text messaging more financially
attractive. At the same time US carriers are actively seeking to educate
their subscribers about SMS.