Research and Markets Adds Frost and Sullivan Report: Comparative Analysis of the European, North American, Chinese, South Korean and Indian Telematics Markets

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "Comparative Analysis of the European, North American, Chinese, South Korean and Indian Telematics Markets" to its offerings.

In a release, Research and Markets noted that report highlights include:

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Comparative Analysis of the European, North American, Chinese, South Korean and Indian Telematics Markets provides market trends, forecasts and country-level roadmaps. In this research, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following markets: navigation, eCall, stolen vehicle tracking, pay as you drive insurance and real-time traffic information systems.

South Korea and China to Emerge as Dominant Forces in the Global Telematics Market over the Medium Term

With the current economic recession impacting the European and North American auto markets in a drastic way, attention in the short to medium term in the telematics domain will shift to less-affected emerging markets, including South Korea and China. South Korea and China will grow to occupy dominant positions in the global telematics market over the next 3-4 years. The global telematics, market dominated by the OnStar-propelled North American market, will face a slowdown in the coming years as automakers around the world shift their focus to more important elements such as fuel efficiency and electric vehicles. However, the medium term will witness the growth of markets like South Korea that will occupy a strong position in the global telematics arena because of strong aftermarket sales pushed by telecom operators such as SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom. Established markets like Europe will witness more products and services shifting to the mobile phone-based medium, which is more cost effective, with the active involvement of the telecom community.

"The second lease of life for telematics will come from emerging markets such as South Korea, China and India, where high growth rates are expected," notes the analyst of this research. "The South Korean telematics market is a very good example of telecom operator-driven telematics business model and strategies." Telecom operators have taken the lead in the South Korean market, offering successful packages to both the aftermarket and the OEM side. For instance, currently, the most successful telematics package in South Korea is offered by SK Telecom. This package - Natedrive - is offered both in the aftermarket and to Renault-Samsung in the OE market. With close to a million subscribers accrued in a very short time by the three major telecom operators - namely SK Telecom, KTF and LG telecom - the South Korean aftermarket will continue to expand and reach more than 5 million subscribers by 2013, thereby taking a dominant position in the world telematics arena. The Chinese market for telematics is still at a nascent stage. Navigation, the primary application area, is growing due to the demand created by international events being hosted in China like the 2008 Olympics and the upcoming 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. The Indian navigation market is opening up gradually, because of the growth in GPS-enabled handsets.

Auto Manufacturers Need to Segment Telematics in Two Clear Ways

The most significant challenge facing the market currently is the dramatic slowdown in the North American market. Traditionally, OnStar, offered by GM as a standard feature in more than 90 per cent of its models across different brands, has been the leading telematics service package globally with a subscriber base of more than 4 million at the end of 2008. However, with the recession impacting the North American and European manufacturers, spending on telematics will reduce drastically as the focus shifts to more efficient elements such as electric vehicles. The recession will impact market growth especially in the European region, where eCall voluntary agreement was anticipated to rejuvenate telematics. "The recession comes at the wrong time for the telematics market, which was looking at an upswing with several initiatives emerging in the European and North American markets," comments the analyst. "But the recession will compel many vehicle manufacturers to postpone their plans." In these troubled times for the developed markets, telematics will witness growth emerging from Asian markets such as South Korea, China and India.

The urgent requirement in the more developed European and North American markets is a cost-effective portfolio enabling a wide variety of telematics services. Currently, the rapid growth in the GPS-enabled mobile handsets segment makes it ideal to use these devices and bundle them with a service package that will, ideally, be handled by the telecom operators. This strategy has already proven highly successful in the South Korean market while experiencing moderate success in North America through Verizon-operated services like VZ Navigator. "Auto manufacturers need to segment telematics in two clear ways during these tough times: one, develop a low-cost portfolio based on GPS-enabled handsets for low- and mid- segment vehicles and two, develop a high-end premium embedded package, packing in a lot of features for high-end vehicles," advises the analyst. "The low cost portfolio should be managed by a partnership between auto manufacturers and telecom operators, who should manage end customers directly."

Report information:

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/e807dd/comparative_analys

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