Editor's comment

 The company achieved some important milestones during December that should have a very positive impact on the company going forward. You can read more about them below.

 We would also like to take a moment to wish all of our investors and stakeholders a happy and healthy New Year. We look forward to your continued support in 2008.

Starting 2008 with a bang

  Columbus Geographic Systems started the New Year with an update on its strategy for growth. 

Key strategic plans for the year include: the continued development of new applications for off-road navigation software such as the growing market for in-car navigation systems; ongoing research into breakthrough products, including the first advanced navigation tool for both urban and off-road use; and finally, further development of interconnectivity with mobile phones.

"By clearly focusing our strategy on these core areas, we are confident of our plans to transform the company in 2008," said CEO Tsvika Freidman. "The industry is clearly poised for further growth. Our leading- edge technology and our market experience places us in a strong position."

Navigation is a fast growing business, particularly for mobile location-based services and in-car navigation tools.

In December 2007, Columbus Geographic Systems filed the Form 10-SB12G with the Securities and Exchange Commission to become a fully reporting company.

We made this important step so that we will be able to trade our shares on a higher listing such as the NASDQ Bulletin Board exchange. This, in turn, should help us grow our business.

Fully reporting companies listed on the OTC Bulletin Board have access to capital sources that are not readily available to companies on the pink sheets. Many institutional investors and funds do not deal with companies that are not fully reporting. Only fully reporting companies are listed on the Bulletin Board – which demands maximum transparency and disclosure for shareholders and investors.

Following on from this big first step, Columbus intends to continue to qualify for other exchanges.

Plans announced for new GIS system for infrastructure support

  Late last year Columbus announced that it plans to launch a new and innovative geographical information system (GIS) tool that will service infrastructure and utilities spanning large territories. This advanced system is designed to provide real-time information to government, non-government and commercial organizations responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure that span wide geographical expanses – for example: roads, electricity and telephone lines, cellular antennae, parks and public recreation areas. This intuitive system can also be used by non-professionals with minimal training.

"This new system fills a need from both private and public utility companies looking for better ways to monitor infrastructure sites in the field,” said CEO Tsvika Freidman.

Forecast: Mobile phones to become main navigation devices

mobilemonday.net is reporting that, according to a recent report by Telematics Research Group, mobile phones will become the most common navigation devices in the near future. In an article posted on January 6, 2008, the website reports that:

"Standalone navigation devices… will give way to mobile phones as the worldwide portable navigation market explodes over the next several years," states the report.

"The market research firm said 30 million dedicated navigation devices were sold last year, outpacing navigation-enabled mobile phone sales by 50 percent. But wireless handsets and other Internet-enabled gadgets will fuel massive growth in the space, with the market growing from 50 million units in 2007 to more than 500 million units in 2015, TRG predicted.

“In the years to come, navigation-enabled mobile phones will be used for auto navigation, pedestrian navigation and many other types of location-based services,” said TRG analyst Egil Juliussen. “This opens up a new world of services and capabilities.”

The world's first comprehensive navigation solution

Success in today's world means constantly moving forward into new territory. And in keeping with that philosophy, we have begun developing the world's first comprehensive navigation solution that displays both urban and off-road maps without the need to move between different software or change memory cards.

Navigation systems are generally divided into two broad categories: urban and off-road. Urban navigation applications use vector-based maps called vector graphics. The information is store stored in data tables inside the map itself. In contrast, off-road navigation applications use raster-based (raster graphics) maps, which are essentially scanned maps.

Personal Navigation Device Sales Still Strong In Western Europe

Revenues from portable navigation solutions, including PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices) and software solutions for multi-user devices, will exceed €8.3 billion in Western Europe by 2012, forecasts market research company Juniper Research.

"PND sales in Europe are booming at the moment. There are already signs of growing maturity in the earliest developed European markets, prices are continuing to fall and there is strong competition from original equipment in-vehicle navigation solutions and from software solutions for multipurpose devices, particularly mobile phones,” commented report author, Bruce Gibson.

PNDs have been one of the great consumer electronics success stories of the past two years. Revenues from PNDs are currently estimated to account for over 90% of the portable navigation market in Western Europe, with other navigation solutions losing market share in the face of the PND onslaught in recent years. In Western Europe, Juniper Research expects the percentage of vehicles using PNDs to grow to 22% by 2012.

In 2007, Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) Sales Are Forecasted to Reach about 16 Million Units in Europe

  As we move into 2008 we are faced with an important question: where is the PND market headed?

According to Research and Markets new Berg Insight report Connected Navigation Devices (1), "The personal navigation market continues to grow rapidly in Europe and North America."

The report states that by 2005 – two years after entering the European market -- the PND segment had achieved a significant breakthrough. By 2006 sales had already reached nine million units. In North America, very strong sales during the holiday season contributed to remarkable growth in 2006 -- approximately 2.8 million units shipped.

And Finally…

A report in gpsdaily.com says that personal navigation devices will surpass 100 million units by the year 2011.

According to this web article,  dedicated PNDs will remain the preferred navigation tool for cars, but will be complemented by handset-based systems for pedestrian navigation and new use cases such as outdoors.

"Handset-based navigation will be stimulated by convergence trends and technological advances in low-cost GPS-receiver integration, and improved indoor coverage," says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte.

"Driven by the involvement of cellular carriers, off-board handset-based navigation will grow strongly in North America,

 reaching a sales volume of 21 million units by 2012. It will be a catalyst for the uptake of location-based services such as search, friend finder and tracking features."

The article reports that Europe is currently the leading navigation market, but strong growth is expected in developing countries such as China and India. By 2012 more navigation systems will ship in Asia-Pacific than in any other region.

(1) http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c74218