GPS personal tracking device shipments are expected to more than double by 2021 with a 21% CAGR as the industry shifts away from traditional markets, such as family and pet locator devices. ABI Research predicts that non-traditional markets including elderly/health, corporate, and personal asset tracking will embrace ubiquitous indoor and outdoor location technology.
Traditional markets still attract attention, given the huge total available market, but they remain too fragmented, with no obvious sales and distribution channels. As a result, a number of established companies in this space are being forced to consider new areas to find future growth.
New healthcare applications in elderly, dementia, and remote patient monitoring, for instance, have great potential. ABI Research anticipates location-enabled health devices to break two million shipments by 2021. When you consider the fact that average healthcare spending is increasing at a time when approximately 30% of U.S. hospitals are losing money, there is an immediate need for technology to remove the inefficiencies of the current market.
Meanwhile, the lone worker market shows significant acquisition activity, which is leading to an increase in pricing pressures as companies look to buy market share. ABI Research finds this to be a dangerous strategy in a market that will not scale rapidly. But the technology is there to support more stringent legislation, and indoor location will open up new applications and services in corporate.
ABI Research has seen stronger device shipments in corporate, industrial and personal asset tracking, with a combined total exceeding 25 million by 2021. Bluetooth Low Energy beacons will open up these markets, but a number of other technologies will emerge, such as UWB, sensor fusion, magnet field, proprietary Wi-Fi and LPWAN. We believe this will spark demand for 'outdoor' technologies like GPS.
Learn more about these findings in the Personal Location Technologies and Applications, report from ABI Research.
