GPS chipsets are not yet commodity products and technical performance is still the key differentiator, says the chief technical officer of chipset supplier Nemerix.

Nemerix's Lionel Garin will argue his poiunt and present a vision for the future for consumer-oriented, handheld GPS devices in a session entitled: "Market Navigation for the Navigation Market" at CES 2008 in Las Vegas.

During this session, Garin will discuss the different technical requirements from the automotive GPS market - where accuracy up to five meters is sufficient - to the pedestrian or last-mile GPS market, which requires a much higher degree of accuracy to provide pedestrian turn-by-turn directions in dense urban environments and indoors.

"If you listen to mass market analysts, it might appear as though GPS has become a commodity, where the only differentiation between solutions is cost, and power consumption – but that’s not actually the case,” said Garin.

“At CES, we’ll examine why the navigation market requires a higher level of performance, and we’ll discuss when the navigation capabilities that address indoor environments - such as shopping malls, and deep-indoor locations - will arrive to usher in wide market acceptance,” added Garin.

Some of the consumer-oriented GPS applications being looked at include signal authentication and position certification for mobile banking applications, where precise transaction timing and location authentication are required.

Garin also says that GPS location and velocity authentication can facilitate new consumer services, such as pay-by-use car insurance; usage-based toll road charges, and how the technology can be used to resolve litigation related to speeding tickets.

Follow the link for more on the technology announcements at CES 2008.