For the third straight quarter, shipments of handheld
devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) fell as some
prominent suppliers decided to pull back from the market, according
to IDC.
Worldwide shipments totalled 2.1 million units in the third
quarter, down 8.7% from last year's third quarter.
IDC defines a handheld as a device that does not include
telephony but may include internet connectivity. This includes
devices traditionally known as PDAs but excludes a growing category
of devices known as smartphones, such as PalmOne's new Treo
650.
PDAs are in decline as mobile phone suppliers have substantially
improved the personal information management (PIM) capabilities of
their phones.
Most people do not want to carry two separate devices to manage
their personal contacts and make phone calls, which has led to
increased interest in devices such as PalmOne's Treo 650 and
Hewlett-Packard's iPaq h6315.
Suppliers who fail to evolve their handheld devices beyond the
core PIM capabilities will not succeed in this market unless they
are willing to tolerate low margins, said David Linsalata, an
analyst with IDC.
Companies such as Dell and Mitac International have made inroads
into the market with low-cost, low-margin devices, but companies
such as PalmOne, with higher cost products, have seen declines in
their shipments.
PalmOne remains the overall shipment leader with 34.7% of the
market, but its shipments declined 12.7% in the third quarter
compared with the same period last year.
HP's non-phone iPaq devices bucked the overall trend in recent
quarters with shipment growth of 11.7% in the third quarter,
putting it in second place. HP has steadily gained market share in
recent quarters as PalmOne has devoted more resources to getting
its Treo smartphone products up and running.
Sony decided this year to pull back from the international PDA
market to focus on the Japanese market. Sony had long occupied the
third position in this market, but its shipments fell a staggering
81.5% in the third quarter. Even with that decline, the company
still made the top five vendors worldwide, ranking fifth.
Dell ranked third on the worldwide list and Mitac was fourth.
Both companies are relatively recent entrants into the market and
are gaining share with low-cost handhelds, IDC said.
Tom Krazit writes for IDG News Service