31% of PDA owners use paid location-aware services

The results of a survey of AvantGo revealed that 85% of Pocket PC owners and 82% of Palm owners plan to stick with the same operating system with their next purchase. The top 12 features of an all-in-one dream device would be: Calendar/contact list; Easily syncs with PC; Great battery life; Email/messaging; Wi-Fi/Bluetooth; Compact size; MP3 player; Phone; Large screen; GPS locator; 20+ gigabyte memory; and Camera. Additional findings include: Nearly two out of three respondents said they planned to purchase a regular PDA rather than one with phone capabilities; 31% said they would be purchasing a phone/PDA hybrid, while only 3% would switch to a Symbian smartphone device and 4.5% to a RIM Blackberry device. 50% of respondents reported owning Palm OS devices, 40% Pocket PC devices, and 10% reported owning other brands. 77% of respondents reported purchasing their own current handheld device, while 13% received it as a gift, and 9% received it from an employer. 70% of respondents have downloaded four or more applications and 34% have downloaded 10-plus applications to their handheld device. Among respondents who download PDA and smartphone applications, 15% spend $100 or more a year, 38% spend more than $50, and 58% spend more than $25 a year. 31% of respondents use paid location-based or travel applications such as event, restaurant and movie listings.