Post a Comment
PDA Market Drops Again
Online staff -- Electronic News, 2/2/2005
Increasing competition and the search for relevance caused the worldwide market for handheld devices to experience its fourth successive quarter of year-over-year decline in Q4 2004, according to the latest research from IDC.
Even though Q4 device shipments increased 37.4 percent sequentially, they fell 18.7 percent year-over-year to 2.8 million units. For 2004, worldwide handheld device shipments reached 9.2 million units, 13 percent lower than 10.6 million units shipped in 2003.
IDC defines handheld devices as pocket-sized, either pen or keypad-centric, capable of synchronizing with desktop or laptop computers and designed to access and manage data including office documents, multimedia, and games. They do not include telephony but may include wireless capabilities that enable Internet access and text communication.
2004 marks the first time since 1999 that worldwide handheld device shipments have slipped to under 10 million units and the third straight year of decline since the market’s peak in 2001. This distinction, underscored by the departures during the year of top vendors Sony and Toshiba, further emphasizes the increasing competition and search for relevance that handheld device vendors are facing in today’s marketplace, the Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm believes.
And while vendors have seen recent successes with bundled and integrated GPS receivers, the lack of other compelling solutions beyond PIM and GPS continues to limit the vendors’ ability to expand into new market segments, the firm noted.
"Despite a rise in quarterly shipments due to holiday seasonality and consumer uptake of bundled and integrated GPS receivers, increasingly saturated markets and stiff competition from converged mobile devices drove the handheld device market to its third straight year of decline," said David Linsalata an analyst in IDC's mobile devices program, in a statement.
"This drop stresses the urgent need for vendors to evolve their devices beyond personal information management in order to return the market to a growth path,” he added.
On a vendor basis, palmOne continued to lead the handheld device market, posting a 59.5 percent sequential gain in shipments. Even though the market leader continued to feel pressure from the slumping market, seen in the company's 11.1 percent year-over-year decrease in shipments, the company still held 39.6 percent market share.
Despite a quarterly shipment gain of 25 percent, Hewlett-Packard lost 2.7 percent market share as a result of palmOne's strong shipment increase. The company also suffered the effects of the shrinking market, reflected in a 10.7 percent year-over-year drop in shipments but held onto its number two market share position with 27.1 percent.
Dell was less affected by seasonality due to its direct sales model and enterprise focus, but still experienced a loss of 2.2 percent market share during Q4. However, the company exhibited a steady 4.4 percent sequential growth and a strong 22 percent year-over-year increase thanks to strong shipments from its x30 and new x50 models. Dell moved up one spot to number 3 market share holder with 7.6 percent of the market, ahead of Sony.
