Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > Miscellaneous > Lounge

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 01-31-2005, 08:13 AM   #1
Colin Dunstan
Is papyrophobic!
Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Colin Dunstan ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Colin Dunstan's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,926
Karma: 1009999
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: USA
Device: Dell Axim
PDAs lack growth, according to latest study

PDAs, surprise surprise!, are losing ground to smartphone and feature phones. According to analyst firm Canalys, global mobile device sales grew by 51% in the last quarter of 2004 compared to the year before. While the market for smartphones, or "voice-centric devices", increased by a breathtaking 101%, the market for handhelds (including wireless-enabled devices), so-called "data-centric devices", rose just by 5% for the year.

Nokia is the leader in shipped smartphones (4.9m in the quarter), followed by palmOne, whose combined 1.5m handheld and smart phone shipments meant an 8% overall growth. The reports also notes that growth could have been better if the Treo 650 had been more widely available at the time. Still, palmOne remains the leading smart phone vendor in North America.

Research in Motion continues to chase HP for the third place, with increase in sales of 249% on last year compared to HP's 1% growth.
Colin Dunstan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-31-2005, 12:29 PM   #2
hacker
Technology Mercenary
hacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with othershacker plays well with others
 
hacker's Avatar
 
Posts: 617
Karma: 2561
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: East Lyme, CT
Device: Direct Neural Implant
Quote:
Originally Posted by Morpheus
While the market for smartphones, or "voice-centric devices", increased by a breathtaking 101%, the market for handhelds (including wireless-enabled devices), so-called "data-centric devices", rose just by 5% for the year.
Could that possibly have anything to do with the fact that there are SIGNIFICANLY more phone vendors than PDA vendors? There's a LOT of handsets out there, versus the number of active PDA models and types in the same market space.

Also, let's not forget that Sony and Handspring are gone (well, Handspring merged back into palmOne, but their market for handset growth hasn't increased). Sony used to put out 5 new models per-year, so that's going to cause a significant drop, even if NO new "smartphone" units were sold at all.

As with most studies like this, they take a very narrowly-scoped view of the overall situation, and neglect to include a lot of the obvious weighting factors.
hacker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-31-2005, 01:10 PM   #3
Chaos
Evangelist
Chaos has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.Chaos has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.Chaos has a complete set of Star Wars action figures.
 
Posts: 418
Karma: 281
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Canada
Device: Assorted older devices
Also think about how many people already have a PDA. If you have a recent one, has there really been any new innovations worth upgrading for this year?
Chaos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-31-2005, 01:21 PM   #4
Laurens
Jah Blessed
Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.Laurens is no ebook tyro.
 
Laurens's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,295
Karma: 1373
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: The Netherlands
Device: iPod Touch
Quote:
Originally Posted by hacker
Could that possibly have anything to do with the fact that there are SIGNIFICANLY more phone vendors than PDA vendors? There's a LOT of handsets out there, versus the number of active PDA models and types in the same market space.
Essentially, you're saying there are less PDA's because there are less vendors selling them. That's what the numbers in this study are saying as well. I don't see how this impacts the overall conclusion.
Laurens is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-31-2005, 06:10 PM   #5
rlauzon
Wizard
rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.rlauzon put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp.
 
rlauzon's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,018
Karma: 67827
Join Date: Jan 2005
Device: PocketBook Era
Thumbs down Reason to upgrade?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaos
Also think about how many people already have a PDA. If you have a recent one, has there really been any new innovations worth upgrading for this year?
Nope. The Tungsten 5 is a dud. PDA/Phones are worthless (how are you going to take notes and such while the device is attached to your head?).

I'm getting tired of my Tungsten C, but I see nothing worth upgrading to.
rlauzon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-31-2005, 08:47 PM   #6
Brian
MobileRead Editor
Brian has learned how to buy an e-book online
 
Brian's Avatar
 
Posts: 447
Karma: 84
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Massachusetts
Device: Treo 700p, Zodiac2
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlauzon
PDA/Phones are worthless (how are you going to take notes and such while the device is attached to your head?).
The Treo comes with a wired earpiece/mic, and it also has a great speakerphone .

Brian
Brian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2005, 01:14 PM   #7
PaulJManoogian
Member
PaulJManoogian began at the beginning.
 
PaulJManoogian's Avatar
 
Posts: 21
Karma: 25
Join Date: Jan 2005
Device: Dell Axim x30
I see a lot of confusion with this whole convergence thing. Many of the vendors seem to be jumping ship from the PDA market 'cause they appear concerned that the SmartPhone industry is going to kill them. Personally, I think that converging a PDA into a phone isn't really the direction I want to go; a least, not until someone figures out how to make the whole thing smaller. I would never give up my tiny cell, for something larger, just because it supports Windows Mobile, or PalmOS. ... and vice-versa. A tiny PDA isn't my idea of functional.

My humble opinion is that more PDA functionality should show up in the PMP/PVP devices. Those devices are designed with the idea of synchronizing, storage, and general portability. The phone is, and has most always been, the tiny device for conversation. Why make my PDA too small, or my conversation device "luggable?"

My $0.02.
PaulJManoogian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2005, 01:13 AM   #8
cheshire
Fence Sitter
cheshire began at the beginning.
 
cheshire's Avatar
 
Posts: 51
Karma: 10
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Singapore
Device: Asus P525
I do think we are heading towards convergence, though. We're already seeing a proliferation of terms across the product ranges: you have a Nokia "Communicator" now and also a Windows "Mobile" Phone PDA.

The O2 Mini's managed to be "relatively small", compared with a standalone PDA, and this year we are expecting more models from Samsung, ETEN and HP.

Having said that, however, I do believe that current models need to improve on their usability. Not everyone enjoys or thinks it is necessary to go through the more complex PDA features; some would be rather happy to use them as sophisticated phones. So IMHO convergence shouldn't be looked at in terms of features, but in terms of the end-user's experience.

One thing for sure is that the lines between PDA and phones are blurring rapidly, and at this rate we'll have a Tricorder soon enough.

Last edited by cheshire; 02-08-2005 at 01:18 AM.
cheshire is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Amazon: New $189 Price Results in Tipping Point for Growth kjk News 67 07-23-2010 09:37 AM
Ebook growth up 252 percent Scott Nicholson General Discussions 7 05-24-2010 11:41 PM
Ebook growth explosive, serious disruptions around the corner Moejoe News 6 08-24-2009 04:50 PM
Japan: Mobile phones driving market growth for e-books grimo1re News 10 06-22-2007 03:38 PM
E-paper shipments set for growth Alexander Turcic News 0 05-30-2006 04:24 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:53 AM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.