Back on April 27th, Canalys reported its findings on Q1 2005 mobile device sales. Now market researcher Gartner is reporting similar findings in the more specific PDA product category.
Between January and March, global PDA shipments hit 3.4 million units. This is an increase of 25 percent over Q1 2004. Research In Motion saw sales of its BlackBerry handhelds grow over 75%, enough to be the leading vendor. PalmOne was in second place despite shipments and marketshare dropping 26.3 and 18 percent respectively. HP shipments grew 4.4 percent and held down 3rd place. Nokia with its 9300 and 9500 models was in fourth place.
Some other findings: PDAs with WiFi or cellular capabilities accounted for over half of all shipments. And the average selling price rose by 15 percent. In terms of operating systems, Microsoft took first place with 46 percent market share, followed by RIM and PalmOS.