Framingham (MA) – Handheld makers saw their market contract substantially for the fifteenth consecutive quarter, according to a research report released today. The market volume is down about 70% from its peak in 2002 and IDC expects this trend to continue for at least another five years.

Playing in the handheld market today - with “handheld” being defined as a PDA without cellphone capability - isn’t much fun. Once again, the shipment volume of such devices declined significantly in the third quarter of this year.

IDC estimates that 728,894 PDAs shipped globally during the period, which is down 39.3% from 1.20 million in Q3 of 2006. Looking back over the past four years, third quarter shipments have shown a steady decline from about 2.3 million in Q3 2003. By Q3 2004, shipments were down to 2.0 million, one year later the number slipped to 1.7 million. In fact, in Q3 2004 Palm shipped more than 736,000 PDAs - more than the global market volume in Q3 2007.

The 2007 PDA market is expected to hit shipments of about 3.5 million units, down from almost 11 million in 2002. IDC analyst Ramon Llamas told TG Daily that the current pace of market decline is still very high and it may “take another five to ten years” until the market levels out. Five years back, the PDA segment looked considerably different, with Toshiba, Sony and Dell aggressively participating in what was then considered to be a lucrative market. Today, those firms are gone and while Palm is still dominating the category, new players such as Mio have emerged. Llamas believes these shifts will be continuing for some time.

In terms of vendor shipments, Palm was able to increase its market share to 44.6%, even if its shipment volume was down 27.8% to 325,000 units year over year. HP remained at #2, with a 17.5% decline in shipments to 198,100. Mio came in third with 81,903 shipped PDAs, followed by Fujitsu-Siemens with 39,519 and Sharp with 17,500.

Llamas said that the PDA market is unlikely to go away completely since it still has “a loyal, if shrinking, following in developed economies, especially among enterprise users. In emerging markets, the appeal of the handheld devices seems anchored in the fact that, in the absence of a monthly service plan, it has a lower total cost of ownership compared to mobile phones and/or the converged mobile device."

iPod Touch

Nov 09, 2007 11:45     

I wonder what these numbers would look like if the iPod touch was counted as a PDA.
e1000 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

obvious!

Nov 09, 2007 11:57     

I have personally rolled out 50 PDA/Cell phones in the past year to my company. As an owner myself of PDA's since the "Nino" days, they are pretty darn worthless without the connectivity of the cell carriers. Once you tie them in with a service like EDO... these things come alive and are almost invaluable to a company. PDA’s like this went from being used by a few really smart people to everyone, even the computer illiterate who need to check email on the road. Hell, they are practically replacing laptops on the road for our people.

tleavit report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Llamas is not so smart, sure it has a lower total c...

Nov 09, 2007 13:16     

Llamas is not so smart, sure it has a lower total cost of ownership, but who doesn't have a cell phone now days. If one does not own a cell phone, I doubt that they will buy a pda either. The market is shrinking because of the technology. Cell phone now days have almost all the functions of a PDA, no one wants to carry 2 devices all day long. Now lower the PDA's prices to below 100, then I'll buy one.

David report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I would like to replace my outdated Palm TX with a ...

Nov 09, 2007 14:05     

I would like to replace my outdated Palm TX with a reasonably priced unit but will not settle for any display less than the 320X480 like the TX's. It has to be a true PDA, not an internet device such as the IPhone and ITouch. The Dell 51v would have been close to perfect. The displays of most smart phones just don't cut it for me.
Don report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

A moose once ate my sister.

Nov 09, 2007 14:15     

It would seem then that not is the end in site but at the rate of decline if no other force interacts with it you can clear present the date of the end, at least the fiscal quarter.
GZ report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I'd like one but...

Nov 09, 2007 14:57     

These thingies cost almost as a laptop! There is no way I giving 500 Euros for such a toy. I'll buy one if they offer the same functionality but for much, much, much lower price! I also want longer battery life, more storage option etc. Then I'll buy and if it is useless to me I can toss it away without much regret.
BroomBroom report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Cell phones get bigger, UMPCs get smaller

Nov 09, 2007 18:38     

But yes, as much as I love PPCs with GPS maps, a useable browser, PSP type games, and MS-Office, I still want an integrated cell phone just to have 1 less device to carry. Why not add cell phone functionality to UMPCs (with a thumb keyboard at least)?
enewmen report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Keyboard is the problem

Nov 10, 2007 04:02     

The keyboard should use the full length of the phones or optionally should slide out from both halfs (top and bottom) to become a big double lengthed one and same applies to the monitor ie. if we can say it as a monitor.
LogicallyGenius report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Companies like HTC are killing the PDA market.

Nov 10, 2007 07:51     

Ive had 2 PDA phones from HTC running Windows Mobile, the 8125(Bought for $75 with new contract) and the 8525(Bought for $250 after I went for a swim in the ocean with the 8125). I send/receive over 5k txts a month plus uncounted emails and that slide out keyboard is oh so nice for typing them out. I know there are others on the market with them like the Sidekick, Blackberry, Treo, and such, but the keyboard on them is nowhere near as nice as the stuff from HTC. Plus they make the best PDA phones for almost every carrier out there. My roommate just got the ATT Tilt made by HTC, and that thing is damn pretty. As an added bonus, because of the good people down at xda-developers.com, they can all be hacked in just about every way possible. It was only a matter of time before they put a phone in the PDA and the regular PDA went away anyway.. But I bought my first PDA phone a few months after my girl bought me a Dell Axiom, I haven't taken it out of the box in almost 3 years. And no, I don't work for HTC, but unless someone shows me something new and worth while that HTC doesn't have, I see no reason to buy anything else.

Sean report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Personal Vs Business Users

Nov 10, 2007 11:45     

I expect most individuals would purchase a smartphone, however there is still a lot of functionailty, and cost saving to be head for many large businesses for staff that work at the office. Sure if the business employs someone working in the fied, they'll get a smartphone, but otherwise why waste all that extra money?
Zac report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Why does this even matter?

Nov 11, 2007 00:34     

It's like providing numbers on the sale of non-internet enabled pc's. There aren't any because without the network it's no good!
NewJohnny report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Well, it's not like they're even trying.

Nov 11, 2007 23:13     

I have to say, it's not like they're even remotely trying. Palm's PDAs are like 3 years old, and even then, they weren't revolutionary. I think they're going for a low volume, huge margin approach. Not sure if that's even working at all. I would consider an iPod Touch as a PDA if they get their software act together. I guess there's a ton more money to be made from Data plans. But I definitely feel like my hand has been forced away from PDAs... more than me just not wanting a PDA anymore, they just stopped making them basically. If you don't build it, they can't come.

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