Mobile Device Sales On A Roll
Canalys’ Q4 2002 research for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia) mobile device market reveals some interesting trends. The market was pretty evenly split between PDAs and smartphones, which means a boost in sales for smartphones thanks to devices like the Nokia 7650 and Orange SPV. Overall the market is still being driven by individual purchases, enterprises have yet to find a reason to buy purchase mobile devices for their employees (but it’s inevitable given the focus of large software companies on mobile apps). HP leads in the PocketPC market, but manufactures in that market are having a hard time differentiating their products (surprise!). Wireless handhelds such as the MS PocketPC Phone Edition devices offered by O2 and T-Mobile are selling but only account for about 5% of the handheld/wireless handheld market, most likely due to their size. Integrated device makers are still struggling to come up with the right form factor that’s small enough to carry all the time but has a large enough screen for PDA and data functions.
