Who's got
PDA?
By T.K.Maloy, UPI Deputy Business Editor
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Personal digital assistants, or PDAs, were supposed to be used by every man, woman and child by this time in the 21st century, instead the adoption rate of these small, not always useful instruments has been slower than expected and will continue to be low. What happened on the road to ubiquitous PDAhood?
It would seem that PDAs often cost too much, have mixed functional popularity and, of all things, are being heavily competed with by mobile phones which have many of the same functions. Research firm Gartner Inc. found that by the third quarter of last year, worldwide shipments of PDAs had declined by 0.2 percent from this same period a year previous from 2.523 million units shipped to 2.517 million. This represented the eighth consecutive quarterly drop in unit sales. (Figures are not available yet for the recently finished fourth quarter of 2003.)
Gartner analyst Todd Kort noted that the PDA industry was continuing to struggle with the general economic doldrums worldwide, added to by the fact that "approximately 70 percent of all PDAs are purchased by consumers with their own funds."
"PDA market erosion is also resulting from increasing competition from mobile phones that include similar calendar, address book and other personal information management capabilities that have been fundamental applications of PDAs," Kort said.
According a report released from Jupiter Research, estimates are that the current installed based of PDAs numbered just over 14 million by the end of 2003, and will grow to only 20 million by 2008, a 7 percent penetration of the overall U.S. population.
Jupiter found in its recent study of personal digital assistants that in many ways the simpler the instrument the better. Jupiter reported that adoption of these portable devices increases as their size and complexity of use decreases. The research firm identified that the "sweet spot" for handhelds to be those that offer voice, personal information management (PIM) or a combination of the two, and focus less on other integrated functions. These findings were released in Jupiter Research's new report, "PDAs Optimizing Integration." To clarify the marketplace, Jupiter Research created a "PDA Taxonomy" covering device form factor and identifying key attributes that define mobile usage
"We explored the reasons why vendors are creating multi-function devices and measured those against actual consumer demand for functionality and the number of devices people are willing to carry," said Michael Gartenberg, director of research at Jupiter.
As part of the report, Jupiter Research conducted an independent survey to assess U.S. consumer demand for PDA features and "form factors,"(the high-tech term for size and shape), and another survey to determine the willingness of consumers to carry multiple devices.
"Basic PDAs with excellent personal information management functionality will continue to make up the majority of sales while higher end devices will remain in niche markets only," Gartenberg said. "But as phones with integrated and functional PDA capability come into the market, they can spur growth opportunities for vendors while eschewing other less desirable features such as game play or media integration," added Gartenberg.
According to the Jupiter report, the personal digital assistant marketplace has increasingly split and branched off into three parts, or "trifurcated." Jupiter reports that the three market forks are as follows basic PDA functionality; basic PDA functionality with media centricity; and basic PDA functionality together with media centricity and wireless features.
Jupiter Research believes trifurcation in the market, combined with a wide range of prices for PDAs, precludes convergence on a single device or form factor. The report said that business users will lean toward wireless-enabled devices, high-end consumers will focus on color and media-centric devices, while price-sensitive consumers will be well served by basic PDA functionality.
By T.K.Maloy, UPI Deputy Business Editor
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Personal digital assistants, or PDAs, were supposed to be used by every man, woman and child by this time in the 21st century, instead the adoption rate of these small, not always useful instruments has been slower than expected and will continue to be low. What happened on the road to ubiquitous PDAhood?
It would seem that PDAs often cost too much, have mixed functional popularity and, of all things, are being heavily competed with by mobile phones which have many of the same functions. Research firm Gartner Inc. found that by the third quarter of last year, worldwide shipments of PDAs had declined by 0.2 percent from this same period a year previous from 2.523 million units shipped to 2.517 million. This represented the eighth consecutive quarterly drop in unit sales. (Figures are not available yet for the recently finished fourth quarter of 2003.)
Gartner analyst Todd Kort noted that the PDA industry was continuing to struggle with the general economic doldrums worldwide, added to by the fact that "approximately 70 percent of all PDAs are purchased by consumers with their own funds."
"PDA market erosion is also resulting from increasing competition from mobile phones that include similar calendar, address book and other personal information management capabilities that have been fundamental applications of PDAs," Kort said.
According a report released from Jupiter Research, estimates are that the current installed based of PDAs numbered just over 14 million by the end of 2003, and will grow to only 20 million by 2008, a 7 percent penetration of the overall U.S. population.
Jupiter found in its recent study of personal digital assistants that in many ways the simpler the instrument the better. Jupiter reported that adoption of these portable devices increases as their size and complexity of use decreases. The research firm identified that the "sweet spot" for handhelds to be those that offer voice, personal information management (PIM) or a combination of the two, and focus less on other integrated functions. These findings were released in Jupiter Research's new report, "PDAs Optimizing Integration." To clarify the marketplace, Jupiter Research created a "PDA Taxonomy" covering device form factor and identifying key attributes that define mobile usage
"We explored the reasons why vendors are creating multi-function devices and measured those against actual consumer demand for functionality and the number of devices people are willing to carry," said Michael Gartenberg, director of research at Jupiter.
As part of the report, Jupiter Research conducted an independent survey to assess U.S. consumer demand for PDA features and "form factors,"(the high-tech term for size and shape), and another survey to determine the willingness of consumers to carry multiple devices.
"Basic PDAs with excellent personal information management functionality will continue to make up the majority of sales while higher end devices will remain in niche markets only," Gartenberg said. "But as phones with integrated and functional PDA capability come into the market, they can spur growth opportunities for vendors while eschewing other less desirable features such as game play or media integration," added Gartenberg.
According to the Jupiter report, the personal digital assistant marketplace has increasingly split and branched off into three parts, or "trifurcated." Jupiter reports that the three market forks are as follows basic PDA functionality; basic PDA functionality with media centricity; and basic PDA functionality together with media centricity and wireless features.
Jupiter Research believes trifurcation in the market, combined with a wide range of prices for PDAs, precludes convergence on a single device or form factor. The report said that business users will lean toward wireless-enabled devices, high-end consumers will focus on color and media-centric devices, while price-sensitive consumers will be well served by basic PDA functionality.
Charles Mims
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