Nokia On Pace To Sell 35 Million GPS Phones In 2008

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Yes, the market for cell phones equipped with GPS is growing at a fast rate. Nokia today announced that they will sell 35 million such handsets in 2008.

“We expect to ship about 35 million GPS-enabled Nokia devices in 2008, which is equal to the entire GPS device market in 2007,” CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told the annual shareholders’ meeting.

Nokia’s $8.1 billion acquisition of U.S.-based navigation firm Navteq (NVT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which is still pending regulatory approval in the European Union, is a good deal, Kallasvuo said.

“When we look at it with the eyes we have now, when regarding pedestrian navigation, map services, digital maps, we are even more excited about the opportunities than when making the decision,” Kallasvuo said.

GPS equipped phones are a big part of Nokia’s strategy for growth in North America for 2008. They recently stated that they’ll be offering a lot more models in the U.S. in order to deal with market share erosion that has them at 7% of the market, down from 20% in just a few short years. GPS looks like a solid growth engine for Nokia in 2008.

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