Consumer Telematics 10/10/2013 | Page 13

GLOBAL CONSUMER TELMATICS MARKET - TRENDS With the rising demand for ubiquitous connectivity by the customer, Consumer Telematics throws up a wide range of opportunities for the various participants in this field to gain a strong foot-hold over the market. Since the time GPS navigation services were made open to public use, consumer telematics has come a long way and developed into a multi-billion dollar market. Some of the key market trends seen over the years are  Major share of revenues in the market are attributed to GPS navigation systems, Fleet Management and Infotainment.  Since the early 2000s when the consumer telematics markets started off in a nascent stage, the cost of the equipments have come down drastically, thereby increasing the demand for telematics.  The trend of only high-end vehicles employing telematics is on the decline with other mass production models of cars also are coming equipped with basic telematics system.  Though the U.S. is still the major market, other developing countries like China which produces the highset number of passenger vehicles in the world are rapidly gaining ground in the telematics market.  The Usage-based-Insurance(UBI) concept is fast catching up in Europe(especially Western Europe) and could become a major contributor to the overall telematics indu