The economic crisis affecting the mobile phone market, but not all segments affected. ABI Research reported handset with GPS will continue to grow, thanks to the presence of attractive new smartphone and the extent of the GPS service.

ABI Research estimates that mobile phones equipped with GPS will reach 240 million units in 2009. That number increased 6.4% compared to 2008. Meanwhile, for the entire mobile phone market will be down 4-8%.

“Because the quality of GPS technology in the handset and the costs more down, the GPS feature will be approaching the standard for mobile phones,” said senior analyst George Perros.

High profile mobile phone such as Apple iPhone 3G, Google T-Mobile G1, Research In Motion BlackBerry Bold and Storm, Pre Palm, and Nokia N Series all have GPS capabilities.

The report also mentions that level shipping average annual smartphone with GPS will increase 19% to 2014.

Force growth is the applications and services, and the market is predicted to reach U.S.$13.3 billion until 2013. ABI give special note on the Google Android operating system because it provides developers access to functionality in more locations than competitors.