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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