Worldwide PDA market slump continues

[Colin Dunstan]

Besieged by competition from mobile telephones and other wireless devices, worldwide shipments of handheld computing devices declined 2.2 percent to 2.20 million in the second quarter of 2004, down from 2.27 million units during the same quarter in 2003, according to research from industry firm IDC.

The market for handheld devices has been in decline since 2001, hurt by a general slump in technology purchasing, competition from wireless devices that perform PDA functions, and by a lack of new applications, said David Linsalata, an analyst with IDC, based in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Interestingly, while Sony dropped out completely, and PalmOne sold 0.6% fewer devices (924,000 devices) in the second quarter of 2004 (compared to 2003), PPC-based HP saw its shipments increase by 39.2 percent (530,000 devices) year-over-year.