Worldwide PDA shipments totaled 2.6 million units in the third quarter of 2002, a 0.9 percent increase from the same period last year, according to preliminary results by market research firm, Gartner Dataquest Inc.
Shipments for the first three quarters of 2002 are down 8.3 percent from the same period in 2001. Gartner Dataquest said the market would 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. Palm surpassed 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. HP has 14 percent of the market, Sony has 13 percent, Toshiba has 5.5 percent, and Handspring 3.8 percent.
In the U.S. market, Palm had nearly 40 percent of all units shipped in the third quarter of 2002. Sony moved into the No. 2 spot with nearly 19 percent market share, followed by HP at 15 percent. Sony’s U.S. shipments are more than four times the level of a year ago, according to Gartner Dataquest.
And 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. Palm and Sony, along with Handspring and a few other Palm OS licensees comprised approximately 48.6 percent of worldwide PDA shipments in the third quarter of 2002, the same as the third quarter of 2001.