Gartner notes 5% decline in 2003; blames smartphones and powerful mobiles.
Research group Gartner has released a report detailing PDA shipments in 2003, finding that the number of units shipped declined 5.3% from 2002, totalling 11.5 million. The group placed the responsibility for this on the rise of smartphones encroaching into low-end PDA territory along with increasingly powerful mobile phones.
Both individuals and corporations seem to have found that the limited requirements of PIM and e-mail can be achieved just as well by a smartphone as by a more expensive PDA. This will, according to Gartner, hit Palm OS devices more strongly as a higher percentage of their users employ them for the most basic of functions. However, the report predicts an erosion of the Microsoft market share in 2005 as the enterprise feels the pull towards smartphones, away from the Pocket PC platform.
In contrast, Research In Motion posted extremely strong growth for its Blackberry handhelds, particularly in upgrades from older Blackberrys. RIM now claims nearly one million subscribers.
Gartner congratulated Hewlett-Packard for its wide range of new models in 2003, and palmOne for its successful Tungsten T3. However, it noted that the majority of demand lay with low-end models, perhaps due to price-pressure from Dell and other vendors. palmOne's market share slipped from 54.8% in 2002 to just 43.4% in 2003, marking the biggest decline in numbers. After RIM, Dell and HP posted the strongest growth.
For 2004, Gartner predict US shipments to be steady, despite the weak dollar, while European areas should see growth.
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