The group is forced to buy cards at Nokia

This is the end of a beautiful era. The publication of the annual results of the two giants of GPS, the American Garmin and TomTom Dutch, has confirmed the net withdrawal of this market. Wednesday evening, the first published a turnover for 2010 down 9 compared to 2009, to $ 2.69 billion. On the last quarter, sales declined even by 21 over the same period of 2009. Worse, it is expected that sales decreased again from 7 to 11 in 2011. His Batavian competitor, its copy is better, albeit sluggish. For 2010, TomTom thus achieved a turnover increased by 3 over 2009 at 1.52 billion. But the Group provides a stagnation of its revenues this year. What do diving title, that, eight days ago, has lost 8.3 at the Amsterdam stock exchange in the wake of the announcement of the results.

The two giants, which holds two 65 of the world market for PND (personal navigation devices"), are hit head-on by the competition of"smartphones ". Be it on iPhone or with Android, users can now be guided more by more easily, and are reluctant to develop a system dedicated but more expensive - the average price of a GPS is 146 euros in France, according to GfK.

The traditional GPS market however still has reservations, particularly in emerging countries. With the collapse of their traditional activity, the two actors nevertheless seek to diversify. In mature countries, they rely on innovation and the addition of services. Garmin recently announced in January the launch of the 10 GTU, a tag that allows to identify persons and objects via a simple Internet connection. TomTom offers its side, via its range Live access to radars, weather services, or to HD Traffic detection. Subscribers of de d' évaluer en temps par l' ensemble des trafic SFR France envoyées anonymement réel to assess at the time by all of traffic SFR France envoyées anonymement réel SFR France envoyées anonymement réel anonymously real sent France the United Kingdom.

The Dutch group goes further in diversification. For two years, he developed a partnership with Renault to equip its models (Clio, Megane Scénic, Laguna...) with a directly integrated GPS in the passenger compartment. It is same with Mazda, which allows its automotive division to display strong growth ( 52 in the fourth quarter, to EUR 55 million).

However, the group led by Harold Goddijn put especially on services. "Our navigation solutions can turn on any terminal, whether it is a GPS, a"smartphone"or a tablet device," recalls Frédéric Langin, Vice President Europe of TomTom. Applications for iPhone from the group are among the most sold on the App Store. And the Batavian society may also rely on the sale of maps. Since the TéléAtlas cartographer in 2008, TomTom has of a unique database of cards - only Nokia can compete with the redemption of the mapmaker Navteq - that it sells to many manufacturers. This unique database says much the good results of branch services, 16 of sales in the last quarter.

From Garmin, the task is more complex. The group is forced to buy cards at Nokia. However, he has also relied on partnerships with carmakers (Chrysler, BMW, Peugeot...) and diversifies strongly on other markets: the "outdoor", fitness (GPS hiking, sport...), as well as aviation and marine markets. Finally, the U.S. giant is trying to catch up on mobile products. In October, he ended his partnership with Asus in phones through which they proposed of "smartphones" GPS. Now free, he prepares to commercialize its applications for iPhone and Android. They should get out in the second part of the year. What find a Cape