Tele Atlas NV, headquartered in the Netherlands and a global leading provider of electronic navigation maps, is negotiating with Mitac International, currently the largest Taiwan OEM maker of GPS (global positioning system) products, for cooperation in launching GPS portable navigation devices (PNDs) and GPS-enabled PDAs in the China market, over the next two years, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Currently, China government policy is that only local companies in the China market are allowed to operate businesses relating to GPS-use maps and related data.

There are nine local providers of GPS-use digital maps in China at present, and NavInfo and Shanghai Changxiang Computer, two of the top three providers, are cooperating on the technology with the US-based Navteq and Tele Atlas. There were about 20,000 units of GPS products sold in the China market last year, and the sales volume is expected to rise to 50,000-60,000 units this year.

As major cities in China are undergoing fast physical change, local providers of GPS-use maps incur heavy costs, on the order of 100-200 million Yuan (US$12.6-25.3 million), if they update their databases. As a result, only two to three of them will be able to survive over the next three to five years.

In addition to the China market, Tele Atlas may also begin cooperation with Mitac International in early 2007, in an attempt to compete with Maction Technologies, Taiwan's largest provider of GPS navigation maps, which it offers under its own brand PaPaGo, to the local market.

Source:佚名