Worldwide PDA (personal digital assistant) shipments
increased 31.9% in the third quarter, helped by widespread cellular
access on devices.
Figures from analyst Gartner show that 4.5 million PDAs were
shipped in the quarter, a 31.9% jump on the third quarter in
2005.
The average selling price for a PDA slid 13% to $351 (£189).
When PDAs first hit the shops in bulk five years ago, they could
cost well over £400, and most didn’t have integrated cellular
access.
Gartner analyst Todd Kort said, “An influx of new cellular PDAs
which are subsidised to some degree by wireless carriers resulted
in a significant drop in the average selling price, and pushed the
market to the highest shipments level in PDA market history.”
Kort said, “An estimated 62% of all PDAs shipped in the third
quarter offered cellular connectivity, up from 49% at the same time
last year.”
Much of the growth in the PDA market in the third quarter was
generated by cellular PDAs such as Danger’s Sidekick 3 (sold by
T-Mobile), the Nokia E61/E62 models and the Motorola Q.
RIM Blackberrys remained the most popular PDAs, accounting for
21% of worldwide PDA shipments in the quarter.
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