Recent buyouts include:
- Pitney Bowes (PBI) buys GPS Software Maker MapInfo (formerly: MAPS)
- GPS Company Trimble Navigation (TRMB) buys @Road.
- Semiconductor Chip company Broadcom (BRCM) buys privately held GPS chip company Global Locate
- GPS Equipment company Tom-Tom (TOM2.AS) buys privately held Digital Map company Tele-Atlas
- Wireless handset maker Nokia (NOK) buys Digital Map company Navteq (NVT)
And the most recent company:
Novatel Inc. (NGPS), the Canadian high precision global navigation satellite system company (GNSS), is bought out by Swedish comgolomerate Hexagon for $390 Million.
Now, there are only three pure plays on Global Positioning publicly traded in the US:
- Garmin (GRMN): GPS Equipment
- Sirf Technologies (SIRF): Makes Global Positioning Semiconductors
- Trimble Navigation (TRMB): GPS Equipment
There should be high demand for these remaining companies as Location Based Services will continue to be a large growth area over many years.
2 comments:
But you have to look at each company's competition. I don't know who SIRF and TRMB competes with. But GRMN's direct competitor is TomTom/TeleAtlas and their mapping software (Navteq) was bought out by Nokia which makes GRMN's price more vulnerable than the other two.
SIRF and TRMB seems to have more broader applications.
Good point, Anonymous:
On July 24, 2007, I wrote about different sectors of the GPS market, including some competitors.
Growth and Consolidation in Location Based Services (GPS)
Since then, Garmin has lost its map supplier because Nokia (NOK) bought out Navteq (NVT). And also, Novatel (mentioned in the article above) has also has been bought out.
Post a Comment