GPS Chips and the Financial Markets - Current Trends

GPS Chip technology is moving incredibly fast as the demand for newer and cheaper uses for GPS chips grows. It has been estimated that by about 2013 or so a billion GPS Chips will ship, which is one for every 2 adults in the developed world.

Satellite-based navigation is so popular with consumers that there has been huge growth in the demand for the GPS receiver chip sets that are at the heart of any device. As the technology matures, prices will fall, but likely not enough to remove the huge potential for profitability for manufacturers and distributors.

The average price of a gps chip set will fall below $4.00 by the holiday season in 2008, and the same dramatic reduction in prices for holiday deals seen in 2007 will likely be seen again. As the price falls, this technology will be used in lower-margin devices such as handheld or even wearable GPS, or collars for pets and even monitors for kids playing in the back yard.

As with many products that experience sudden expansion in popularity and demand, large GPS chip manufacturers will end up buying up smaller companies until only a handful of viable "players" remain. Then prices will drop even more as competitors fight to make their GPS Chip sets inexpensive, small, and easy to integrate into products.

The GPS Market is poised for strong growth, and the consumer will eventually see the greatest benefit.