Global shipment of Personal Navigation Devices (PND) is expected to decline to about 17 million units in 2017, according to a report from Berg Insight.
According to the report, the shipments have decreased from 33 million units in 2011 to 28 million units in 2012.
Increase in the smartphone adoption and broader availability of low priced services have resulted in growth of mobile navigation apps that has resulted in the drop of PND shipments.
According to the report, the PNDs are expected to experience more competition from factory installed in-dash navigation systems as more car brands launch next generation low cost systems.
The report revealed that shipments of PNDs are increasing in markets like Eastern Europe, South America and India, but not fast enough to negate the decline in mature markets.
Berg Insight senior analyst Andre Malm said that the number of mobile subscribers worldwide using a turn-by-turn navigation app on their handset at least once per month grew from 105 million in 2011 to 150 million in 2012.
"Stimulating usage is important for app developers and mobile operators that want to pursue additional revenues from advertising," Malm added.
Half of the current active navigation subscriber base use free apps combined with handsets or service plans from mobile operators, the report said.
Due to the growth of free navigation apps, the report said, many mobile operators have switched to integrated freemium navigation services to compensate the cost for end users, while the app developers and operators are now trying to monetise services by launching advertising and premium features.
The users can also customise their app by purchasing new features and content add-ons that support core navigation with traffic information, speed camera alerts, parking space information, local search and local offers.
