Analysis: handheld market share

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MARKET ANALYSIS
Analysis: handheld market share
By Gartner Dataquest staff

About this analysis
On October 28, 2002, the market research firm, Gartner Dataquest, released third quarter 2002 market share results for the PDA sector, broken down by shipments per vendor. We found this very interesting. PDA shipments for the first three quarters of 2002 are down 8.3 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, Palm retained only 30 percent market share in the third quarter (this is an interesting statistic, since they had nearly 70 percent a year or so ago). For the first time, Microsoft licensees captured more than 30 percent of worldwide PDA shipments, up from 16.2 percent in the third quarter of 2001.

It seems the Pocket PC is rapidly gaining strength at the major expense of Palm. With devices like the ViewSonic, which is a color Pocket PC for under $300, and Dell's upcoming Axim reportedly being priced at $199, the Pocket PC is finally becoming agressively affordable to the average consumer. Palm's going to have a serious run for its money. For the complete results of this report, read on.

Worldwide PDA shipments totaled 2.6 million units in the third quarter of 2002, a 0.9 percent decline from the same period last year, according to preliminary results by Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc.

Shipments for the first three quarters of 2002 are down 8.3 percent from the same period last year. Gartner Dataquest analysts said the market will need an exceptionally strong shipment of PDAs in the fourth quarter for the industry to maintain worldwide growth in 2002.

Palm, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony accounted for 58 percent of all PDA shipments worldwide in the third quarter of 2002, as shown in Table A.

Company 3Q02 Shipments 3Q02 Market Share (%) 3Q01 Shipments 3Q01 Market Share (%) Growth (%)
Palm 808,805 30.6 754,810 28.8 7.2
Hewlett-Packard 381,910 14.4 317,890 12.1 20.1
Sony 344,963 13.0 90,690 3.5 280.0
Toshiba 144,391 5.5 8,000 0.3 1,705.0
Handspring 100,100 3.8 353,642 13.5 -71.7
Others 863,523 32.7 1,093,786 41.8 -21.0
Total Market 2,643,692 100.0 2,618,818 100.0 0.9

Palm retained 30 percent market share in the third quarter, while Sony and Toshiba showed the strongest growth in the quarter with increases of 280 percent and 1,705 percent, respectively. Toshiba is a relatively new market entrant, which explains the high initial growth rate.

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