Uh, 35 million phones with GPS from one manufacturer is a lot. That number is just under 10% of all Nokia phones sold during 2007 (~400 million). This prediction is a clear indicator that GPS and navigation/location services will play an increasingly important role moving forward.

The prediction comes from Nokia's U.K. sales director, Mark Loughran. He was recently interviewed by PDA Essentials magazine. He said, "Nokia should sell 35 million GPS-enabled smartphones this year." He cited the GPS-equipped 6220 Classic as an important product in reaching the 35 million mark.

Nokia has been steadily adding GPS to its line of N Series phones, such as the N95, N96, and N82. The 6220 Classic is more of a mass-market phone, and that's just what will make GPS more prevalent. The N Series phones are higher in cost across the board than other 6xxx series phones from Nokia. While the 6xxx series phones aren't freebies, they are more attainable than the N Series for many.

Offering GPS in lower-cost handsets will play a major role in spreading their use.

I have to wonder how much of a role Nokia's acquisition of Navteq has to play here. Nokia has not made it abundantly clear how it will bundle Navteq's services into its own, especially given that it already has a branded Maps application of its own.

On top of this prediction, Nokia is playing up its presence at next week's CTIA event in Las Vegas. It is holding a major press conference and will be hosting lots of events all week. Nokia is always present, but not one of the key players at this show. Perhaps Nokia is set to make public its big push into the U.S. market with new devices and services.