Research firm IDC reports that shipments of PDAs lacking telephone capabilities declined for the third consecutive quarter (down 8.7 percent when compared with the same quarter a year ago). Smartphones, devices that combine voice capabilities with PDA-like functions, are gaining at least some of that marketshare.
The top vendors were PalmOne Inc. with 34.7 percent of the market (down from 42 percent in the previous quarter), Hewlett-Packard Co. with 30.6 percent, Dell Inc. at 8.9 percent, MiTac International Corp. with 3.2 percent and Sony with 2.1 percent.
A glance at the products that are coming out soon, like the iPAQ hw6500 and smartphones announced at Computex 2005, is a clear indication that manufacturers are aware of this trend.