Worldwide PDA Shipments Reach Record 17.7 million in 2006: Gartner
Mobile
data access, particularly wireless e-mail, drove the worldwide PDA market
to record shipments of 17.7 million units in 2006, an 18.4%increase from
2005, according to Gartner.
60% of all PDAs shipped in 2006 offered cellular connectivity, up from 47% in 2005, says Gartner, while 48% of all PDAs shipped in 2006 were purchased by enterprises, about the same percentage as one year ago.
-
Research In Motion (RIM) PDA growth slowed to 10% to 3,510,927 units out of a total of about 6.2 million BlackBerry devices shipped in 2006
- Palm’s PDA shipments declined 29% in 2006 as the company continued to focus on the smartphone market with its Treo product.
- HP shipped 2.3 million PDAs in 2006, accounting for 9.7 percent of all PDAs.
- Sharp ranked fifth in 2006 with 1,438,218 million PDAs shipped. Approximately 1.1 million of these were the Sidekick, primarily marketed by T-Mobile.
|
Worldwide PDA Vendor Shipment Estimates, 2006 (Units): Gartner |
|||
|
Company |
2006 Shipments |
2006 Market Share (%) |
2005- 2006 Growth (%) |
|
Research In Motion |
3,510,927 |
19.8 |
10.0 |
|
Palm |
1,970,031 |
11.1 |
-29.0 |
|
HP |
1,721,531 |
9.7 |
-24.1 |
|
Mio Technology |
1,515,496 |
8.5 |
112.1 |
|
Sharp |
1,428,318 |
8.0 |
166.2 |
|
Others |
7,596,989 |
42.8 |
38.2 |
|
Total |
17,743,292 |
100.0 |
18.4 |
Microsoft Windows Mobile devices tend be more enterprise-oriented than devices based on other platforms (with the exception of the RIM BlackBerry). However, in the more consumer-oriented fourth quarter,
-
Microsoft Windows Mobile achieved its highest sales ever with PDA OS shipments exceeding 3.5 million compared with 2.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2005.
-
This strong quarter helped Windows Mobile to solidify its stronghold on the market with 56.1% market share for the full year.
-
In 2006, shipments of Windows Mobile PDAs grew 38.8 percent to just under 10 million.
| Worldwide: PDA Vendor Shipment Estimates by Operating System, 2006 (Units) - Gartner | |||
|
Company |
2006 Shipments |
2006 Market Share (%) |
2005- 2006 Growth (%) |
|
Windows CE |
9,954,082 |
56.1 |
38.8 |
|
Research In Motion |
3,510,927 |
19.8 |
10.0 |
|
Palm OS |
2,074,765 |
11.7 |
-29.9 |
|
Symbian |
950,100 |
5.4 |
-5.9 |
|
Linux |
152,680 |
0.9 |
35.4 |
|
Others |
1,100,738 |
6.2 |
106.7 |
|
Total |
17,743,292 |
100.0 |
18.4 |
Gartner Dataquest defines a PDA as a data-centric handheld computer weighing less than 1 pound that is primarily designed for use with both hands. They offer instant-on/off capability and synchronization of files with a PC. A PDA may offer WAN support for voice, but these are data-first, voice-second devices. Examples include the RIM BlackBerry 8707v, HP iPAQ 69xx, Nokia E61, Motorola Q, T-Mobile Dash and Sidekick 3.
Smartphones offer all the attributes of a PDA, except that smartphones are voice-centric with data access as a secondary capability, and are designed for primarily one-handed operation. Examples include the Palm Treo 750v, RIM BlackBerry Pearl, Orange SPV C700, Nokia E60 and Sony Ericsson P990i.
