The Mobile Telematics Handbook

The Mobile Telematics Handbook is the companion to the technology market research report Mobile Telematics: Global Markets and Technologies (BCC Research Report IFT062A). Together the report and the handbook provide both a macro-view and micro-view of the global impact of the convergence of telecommunications, digital display, and control systems on all forms of on-road and off-road transportation.

Mobile Telematics: Global Markets and Technologies is the first study of the mobile telematics industry to extend beyond the automotive sector. In addition to providing industry forecasts from 2007 through 2012 for telematics systems for the automotive industry, the study also analyzes the demand for specialized systems for public transit systems, intelligent transport systems, aircraft, cruise lines, and agricultural and construction equipment. Augmenting that analysis are some 200 tables that provide detailed market segment forecasts for the U.S. and global markets. The analysis also differs from other works in that it incorporated broader social, regulatory, and political considerations that influence the size and structure of local markets for specific devices. In the U.S., for example, there is an enormous demand for telematics systems to better protect motorists at rail crossings. Yet, the close political relationship between the industry and the regulatory community assures that market will remain dormant for the at least the first part of the 21st century. In contrast, other government policies that affect the automotive sector have spurred on the advance of safety-oriented telematics systems at a time when the entertainment and information segments of the business are on the wane.

Where Mobile Telematics: Global Markets and Technologies presents a broad view of the entire mobile telematics landscape, the Mobile Telematics Handbook offers highly detailed data that can be collectively described as actionable marketing intelligence. The volume itself is arranged as a series of comprehensive datasets. Several are devoted to describing the size, structure, and condition of the roadway, railway, aviation, and intermodal infrastructures upon which the associated mobile devices depend.

One especially useful feature of The Handbook is a series of forecasts that estimate the prices of many hundreds of components from which comprehensive telematics systems are assembled from 2007 through 2012. Unlike studies in which cost projection are base on industry-provided estimates of product costs, or theoretical demand models, the pricing information found in The Handbook is forecast from actual prices paid by OEMs and end-users. BCC believes the approach will provide the most realistic estimate for cost estimation presently available to the industry.

Mobile telematics arose to serve different functions in different parts of the world. In Europe for example, there is a heavier emphasis on telematics for the integration of the entire transportation system, where as in the U.S., telematics is often construed to include only the automotive industry. In a similar fashion, there have been different approaches to standards setting. The Handbook addresses the issues of multiple definitions for common terms by providing a glossary of industry terminology. The Handbook includes a detailed listing of U.S. patents and industry standards pertaining to different aspects of the industry. Rounding out the presentation, the Mobile Telematics Handbook identifies the major industry players.

Together, Mobile Telematics: Global Markets and Technologies and the Mobile Telematics Handbook present the most comprehensive and useful analysis of the $52-billion rapidly evolving telematics industry yet undertaken.