According to a survey conducted by Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, US mobile phone users ranked their desire for GPS navigation on their devices higher than Internet access.
In the survey, 24% of respondents wanted their next mobile phone to be GPS-capable, and only 19% wanted Internet access.
Mobile phones today occupy a small share of the GPS market.
Only 6% of GPS-device owners had a GPS-enabled phone, compared with 51% who had portable GPS devices and 39% who had GPS devices in their cars.
But global positioning systems may bypass the early-adopter stage.
"Our research is finding the purchase and use of GPS-enabled devices is not confined to segments of the population in which 'early adopters' are generally concentrated—the young, highly educated or affluent," said Owen Shapiro of Leo J. Shapiro and Associates.
"Today's GPS-enabled devices are being widely adopted among the middle-aged and elderly," Shapiro said.