Global sales of GPS phones seen up 34 pct in 2009

FRANKFURT, July 29 (Reuters) - Global sales of phones equipped with GPS chips, which use orbiting satellites to pinpoint the location of a phone user, will show strong growth in 2009, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

"We forecast worldwide GPS smartphone shipments will grow a healthy 34 percent from 57 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2009," Joanne Blight, Navigation Director at Boston-based Strategy Analytics, said on Wednesday.

"GPS smartphones... are a high-growth segment that continues to expand even during the current, tough economic times."

The world's top smartphone makers include Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's top cellphone maker, and more niche companies such as Apple (AAPL.O), maker of the iPhone, Taiwan's HTC (2498.TW) and Research in Motion (RIM.TO), maker of BlackBerry phones.

Two key factors fuelled the adoption of GPS smartphones, said Neil Mawston, Wireless Director at Strategy Analytics.

"First, there is widespread consumer acceptance of portable in-vehicle navigation devices from companies such as TomTom and Garmin in Europe and the United States," he said.

"Second, mobile navigation services are improving. There is an increasing presence of mapping applications among major smartphone vendors, such as Nokia Maps, Apple Google Maps and Blackberry Maps."

Nokia has forecast that 50 percent of its phone models sold this year will be equipped with GPS chips.

Such chips are currently used mostly in top-end cellphones, but Nokia and others are increasingly looking to use them in mass-market phones as well.

GPS phones allow a host of location-based services. SiRF Technology Holdings Inc (SIRF.O) and Broadcom (BRCM.O) are two of the world's largest makers of GPS chips.

Takeup of navigation on cellphones has been seen as a threat to personal navigation device makers like Garmin (GRMN.O) and TomTom (TOM2.AS) for years, and Nokia is already the world's largest manufacturer of GPS-enabled devices. (Reporting by Nicola Leske; Editing by Hans Peters)