Hewlett-Packard and its iPAQ line of Pocket PCs have snagged the lead in the handheld rat race in Europe; Nokia faces a growth stall in a relatively quiet quarter.
According to the latest intelligence from UK based analyst firm Canalys, Hewlett-Packard has seen its handheld shipments surge by 87% to overtake Palm and claim a pole position in the EMEA region. Overall mobile device shipments are up 27% on the third quarter of 2002, while handhelds/wireless handhelds for the first time posted higher growth than smart/feature phones with shipments increasing by 34%.
Nokia, meanwhile, has seen growth stall in a relatively quiet quarter for smartphones and feature phones, and although the company remains the clear overall mobile device market leader, its shipments are up just 1% on the same quarter in 2002.
Following last quarter's impressive return to form, the handheld segment continued to grow in the third quarter, according to the latest research from Canalys. Smartphones - a category where Canalys includes devices such as the Nokia 3650, Sony Ericsson P800 and Orange SPV - still account for the majority of mobile device shipments in EMEA, but the voice-centric segment experienced its first sequential quarterly decline since shipments really began to take off a year ago. For the first time, the data-centric handheld/wireless handheld segment posted higher year-on-year growth.
Chris Jones, a senior analyst and director with Canalys, puts this down to three key factors. "The first is simple mathematics. Q3 last year was the first full quarter of shipments of the Nokia 7650. The overall market more than doubled then and we saw four quarters of tremendous year-on-year growth. We are now comparing like with like, and it is encouraging that the market is still posting healthy gains," Jones observed.
"Secondly, Q3 this year was a quiet quarter for smartphone launches, with no new models that contributed significantly to shipments. Those that did appear, like the N-Gage and the Motorola A920, did so very late in the quarter. Finally, the widespread availability of inexpensive, lower-specification camera phones is also starting to impact smartphone shipments. While smartphones remain largely a consumer play they will always be under pressure from cheaper alternatives."
Last quarter, Canalys reported that HP had lost ground, but predicted it would have a much better Q3. This has turned out to be the case with the firm enjoying an 87% year-on-year rise in shipments, propelling it past Palm to take the number one spot in handhelds by some 15,000 units. Palm too managed to increase its shipments, by 8%, with both firms benefiting from the introduction of new models.
"Palm usually performs well in Q4," added analyst Rachel Lashford, "So HP should not take this leadership position for granted, however, with the iPAQ h1900 and h2200 series, HP now has a much stronger consumer offering. There will also be several new smart phone and handheld launches in the run up to Christmas, which will all make for an exciting quarter in terms of potential shifts in market share."
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