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RSS feedsPDA sales have fallen victim to the depressed market this year, with Nokia seeing a sales slump of 51 per cent during the second quarter compared with the same months last year.
Hewlett Packard (HP) sales fell 18 per cent during the period, while Handpsring and Palm saw sales drop 14 per cent on 2001 figures. Overall, sales for April to June 2002 were 21 per cent down on 2001.
The figures, published in a report from market researcher IDC, indicate that the market remains weak despite the launch of several new wireless handheld devices.
The sector failed to show any signs of improvement over the first quarter of this year, according to IDC. Preliminary data shows total shipments of 449,740 units in western Europe over the three-month period.
Converged wireless devices, such as Handspring's Treo 270, O2's xda and Nokia's 7650, recorded very positive results in the period, but these were not enough to prevent a year-on-year slide for both Handspring and Nokia.
Analysts explained that the handheld market is beginning to mirror the mobile phone market.
"The handheld market continues to be beset by similar problems that are affecting the market for mobile handset terminals, such as the compelling reasons to upgrade," said Andy Brown, mobile research manager at IDC.
"It remains to be seen whether new technology alone is reason enough for end users to upgrade."
Devices due to arrive in the next three months include the HP Jornada 928 and an HTC built device, similar to O2's xda, from T-mobile.
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This svelt new PDA from Sharp has spurned the more conventional operating systems, and opted for open-source Linux instead. 11 Jul 2002
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