The recent studies of industry analysts Canalys confirm that Mio Technology has retained its number three position for mobile GPS devices across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for the third consecutive quarter.

io Technology’s quarterly sales grew approximately 70% in Q4 2006 (compared to Q3 2006), which gave an increase in market share from 7.3% to 9.3% for the same period in 2005. One of the reasons for the strong growth can be attributed to the intensive advertising campaign set in place in November in France and Italy.

According to figures released by the industry analysts, Canalys, Mio Technology has experienced year on year growth of 154% for Q4 2006 compared to the same period in 2005 for integrated mobile GPS navigation devices.

Retained number 1 spot in PDA with GPS market

The Canalys figures show that Mio Technology has retained its number one position in the PDA with GPS market for the fourth consecutive quarter in 2006.

Paul Notteboom, President of Mio Technology Europe: “In a very short time Mio Technology has grown into a player to contend with in the navigation market. Moreover, we are confident that with the new products that we will be unveiling at CeBIT, our position in the market will only get stronger.”

He added that the company’s quarterly figures in the entire integrated GPS market were boosted by performances in a number of key markets across EMEA. “Strong quarterly growth was recorded in France, Spain and Sweden where our market share grew 124%, 156% and 62% respectively in the fourth quarter. We’ve moved up to the number two position in France, number four position in Spain and number three position in Sweden. In addition, we are proud to have retained our number one position in Greece, number two position in the Netherlands and number three position in Italy in the face of fierce competition. In Belgium, our European headquarters, we currently hold the third position.”

Advertising campaign in France and Italy

In Q4 2006, Mio Technology launched an advertising campaign in Italy and in France. These campaigns represented the company’s first major advertising campaign. In 2007, the company plans to launch more advertising campaigns to consolidate Mio Technology’s strong third position in the GPS market and leverage its other activities such as press relations and field marketing.