ABI Research Reorients Automotive Telematics Study, Finding Europe and North America Advancing in Navigation

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.--Oct. 2, 20047, 2004--Japan, the traditional home of high-end automotive navigation systems, still holds its top position in that market. But increasingly, according to the latest review from ABI Research, features previously seen only there are starting to appear in European and North American vehicles.

Highlighting this development, the latest edition of ABI Research's flagship quarterly study in this subject area will see a shift in emphasis, as well as a new name. What was previously known as the "Aftermarket Telematics and In-Vehicle Entertainment Quarterly Service" will now called the "Aftermarket Navigation, Infotainment and Telematics Service."

According to analyst Dan Benjamin, the new name reflects a reorientation of the study, with a greater emphasis on navigation and infotainment services. New in this edition is a section containing "competitor matrices" for European navigation products, offering detailed back-to-back comparisons of the major vendors, their performance, and their products. (Similar matrices for North American and Japanese vendors will be included in the coming quarters.) These matrices are only available to subscribers to the Service.

Japanese navigation systems, says Benjamin, have historically contained all the maps for a large region, either on a built in hard drive, or on a single DVD. North American and European models have, in contrast, typically required swappable memory cards or CD-ROMs. But the trend observed by ABI Research is now for North American and European systems to include high-capacity hard drives, or much larger flash memory cards that can contain far greater detail and geographic coverage.

Another trend reported in the new study is the increasing popularity of real-time traffic information among European car-owners, whether delivered via GPRS-based wireless services or via "traffic channel" radio services. "Within the next 12 months," says Benjamin, "we expect some of the aftermarket offerings in North America to help make traffic services more popular as well."

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations that support annual research programs, quarterly intelligence services and market reports in wireless, automotive, semiconductors, broadband, and energy. Their market research products can be found on the Web at www.abiresearch.com, or by calling 516.624.2500.