IDC: PDA sales to fall

According to the firm's report on handheld shipments, the number of PDAs and handheld computers that were shipped in the third quarter of 2003 rose by 1.1% year-on-year. On a sequential basis, unit shipments increased by 9.4% to 2.37 million units. Palm maintained its top position in the market, while Hewlett-Packard rose sharply, distancing itself from number three Sony and moving closer to the top. "Unless holiday season demand proves particularly positive, the handheld device market will decline more steeply in 2003 than in 2002 as it returns to 2000 levels," said Sealfon. According to IDC's figures, Palm's market share declined from 41.8% in the second quarter to 35.6% this quarter due to a slower than expected end-of-summer sales of current models. IDC said that despite a slight increase in sales, Sony's market share declined from 11.9% in Q2 to 11.5 percent in the third quarter. This was largely due to increasing shipments from rival Hewlett-Packard.