If you thought Smartphones are taking market share away from PDAs, you might be wrong. According to Gartner, "PDA Shipments of 14.9 Million Units in 2005 Tops Previous Mark Set in 2001"

So what’s a PDA?

"Gartner defines a PDA as a data-centric handheld computer weighing less than one pound that is primarily designed for use with both hands. These devices use an open market operating system supported by third-party applications that can be added into the device by end users. They offer instant on/off capability and synchronization of files with a PC. A PDA may offer WAN support for voice, but these are data-first, voice-second devices."

The Q5 figures show the latest position…

Despite Palm being the company selling the most devices in Q4/2005, Windows Mobile (sold by many of the other companies) was actually more popular over the year…

"Microsoft Windows CE was the No. 1 PDA operating system (OS) in 2005 as 7.05 million PDAs were loaded with the OS, up 33 percent from 2004 shipments of 5.28 million units. Palm OS PDA shipments declined 34 percent to 2.96 million units in 2005."

There are lots more details in the Gartner press release.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Windows Mobile, Mobile, Palm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.