PDA sales surge by 32 per cent as prices fall

Falling prices and wireless connectivity have breathed new life into the PDA market, with sales so far this year on pace to surpass their high-water mark in 2001.

According to a report by Gartner, worldwide shipments of personal digital assistants totalled 3.6 million units in the last three months, a 32 per cent jump from the same period last year. The market is now on track to reach 15 million units shipped by the end of 2005, according to Gartner analysts. If that happens, it would surpass the previous record of 13.2 million PDAs shipped in 2001.

The study also found that Windows CE is the operating system of choice for business-minded road warriors. The underlying software accounted for 46 per cent of worldwide shipments in the second quarter of 2005, followed by RIM with 23.2 per cent of the PDA software shipped. PalmSource's 18.8 per cent share rounded out the top three.

Gartner analyst Todd Kort said: "Wireless PDAs are increasingly seen as an adjunct or alternative to notebook computers, while favourable exchange rates have enabled more Europeans to purchase PDAs at an attractive price."

The totals do not include smart phones, such as the Treo 650 and BlackBerry 7100, but do include wireless PDAs, such as the iPAQ 6315 and Nokia 9300.

In terms of hardware, RIM's BlackBerry was the most popular device, with shipments growing 64.7 per cent, to 840,000, in the second quarter. RIM's market share of 23.2 per cent continues to lead the pack, with Palm close behind at 17.8 per cent. Dell's and HP's market share continued to suffer, however, with T-Mobile's Sidekick II and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices pushing Dell out of the top-five ranking, analysts said.

Dell and HP are on schedule to refresh their product lines in the second half of 2005.

On a regional basis, the western European PDA market grew 94 per cent to 1.3 million units in the second quarter of 2005. The region accounted for 37 per cent of worldwide shipments, up from 25 per cent a year ago. PDA shipments in the United States totalled 1.4 million units, a 1.3 per cent increase. Garner blames the stagnant US market on the continuing decline in Palm OS PDA shipments and aging product lines among Microsoft licensees. PDA shipments in Asia/Pacific grew 24.7 per cent, with approximately 402,000 unit shipments.

The rosy outlook for PDAs seems to contradict a similar handheld report that came out from research firm IDC last week. It said that shipments of handhelds fell to 1.7 million units in the second quarter. The shift represents a sequential drop of 24.9 per cent, and a year-over-year decrease of 20.8 per cent.

However, Gartner said it prioritises its PDA data as a data-centric handheld computer first and a communications device second.

Michael Singer writes for CNET News.com