October 29th, 2005
Disconnected Handheld Sales Continue to Disappoint
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
We Say: Standalone PDAs continue to drop in price … take a look at the $99 price point of Palm’s latest offering, the Z22. Color and pretty nifty styling at a nice price. Converged devices are much more expensive. But the people who really need the data, appointments and additional programs of a PDA are generally people in the corporate world who need to stay connected … or those technophiles with a lot of disposable income. The days of the standalone PDA are ending. There is still a market, but it’s surprising that so many models continue to be introduced.
More thoughts here.
Framingham (MA) - It is increasingly difficult for PDA manufacturers to sell “unconnected” handhelds. According to a report from IDC, sales in this segment took yet another hit in the third quarter of this year and posted their seventh consecutive decline.
As the global IT landscape goes more and more mobile, the segment that pioneered the idea make data available anywhere, anytime gets left behind. Cellphone capability has developed to be one of the crucial mass market requirements for PDAs and determines their growth potential. The traditional unconnected PDAs - handhelds that may integrate wireless features such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but lack the functionality of a cellphone or wireless Internet access - on the other side is pushed back into what appears to be a market niche in the end.IDC estimates total PDA shipments for the third quarter of this year at about 1.7 million units, down more than 16 percent from Q3 2004 and down almost 9 percent from the second quarter.
Despite the fact that manufacturers introduce new features into handhelds, such as GPS capability, the downward trend for handhelds continues. For the holiday quarter, IDC expects sales to increase sequentially but decline year over year. At the same time connected or converged devices pull ahead: “Converged devices are placing heightened pressure on the handheld market. Those vendors who offer both devices are starting to see shipments of converged mobile devices equal or surpass shipments of handheld devices,” IDC said. Source: TG Daily
degustibus says:
The Z22 isn’t such a big deal, color yes, but it’s still the basic Zire. No photo (just viewing), no texting, without connectivity, you can’t hook in the kids anymore. My neighbor’s 24 and she uses her phone for everything, spends a lot of money for minutes, so price is not an especially big deal. A Zire22 is siimply a crippled cell phone. (I have an old Zire that still works in mono, does about everything the new and improved version does, without the color.)
October 29th, 2005 at 10:35 am
Pat Perez says:
I just decided to join the PDA world by ordering the Palm T|X. Frankly, I like the larger form factor as compared to devices such as the Treo 650 or Windows Mobile devices coming up. I intend to use it tethered to my Nokia cell phone via bluetooth, so I get the connected advantages of a Treo as well as the improved usability that comes with a larger device (screen, etc). The T|X contacts can be used to dial the phone, and I already have a bluetooth headset. Truly a personal area network. And when I am in the office, I can switch to wifi. By using the phone for the GPRS data connection, I only have to pay $20/month for unlimited data, as opposed to $45 for a Treo data plan. The savings can pay for either a new PDA or cell phone every year.
October 29th, 2005 at 10:56 am
Mike says:
I was looking at handhelds until I realised that the ones that do enough to satisfy me are the same price as a cheap laptop..:/
Mike
P.S. - Price is still the factor I say! I am sticking to it :p cell phones are too crappy for anything, and laptops are too big for some people, so handhelds should sell like hotcakes - PRICE PRICE PRICE..its always about price. OH, the $99 paper weight doesnt count either..I mean REAL handhelds
October 30th, 2005 at 4:44 am