According to research by analyst firm, Berg Insight, overall shipping of Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) decreased to 33 million units in the year 2011. The firm also predicted that this figure will further decrease to 23 million units in the year 2016.

The reason behind this decline is very stiff competition from smartphones and low-cost in-dash navigation systems. According to the report, in 2011, the number of smartphone owners who are using turn-by-turn navigation apps or services on their devices has doubled to 130 million globally.

This number at a compound annual growth rate of 21.9 percent will reach 340 million subscribers all over the world in 2016, reports Evertiq.

Senior Analyst at Berg Insight, André Malm, stated, "The global active installed base of smartphones surpassed 700 million units at the 2011, which is approximately 15 percent of all mobile phones in use."

The subscribers are drawn towards mobile navigation apps because of their easy availability and very attractive pricing. As a matter of fact, many users are availing these services for free due to the service plans network carriers are offering.