| A growing consumer appetite for converged | | | | cent and maintain the lead in North America," |
| devices boosted last years sales of smart | | | | said Canalys. |
| phones to over 64 million units but further | | | | |
| eroded the dwindling market share of | | | | Motorola Inc. came in third with 1.4 million |
| unconnected personal digital assistant (PDA) | | | | devices shipped during the period. Severely |
| products, according to analysts. | | | | affected by the fall in handheld sales, |
| | | | fourth ranked Palm shipped about 1.2 million |
| The sale of converged devices (units that can | | | | devices. |
| function as phone, camera, entertainment | | | | |
| console, PDA and Web-application platform) | | | | Another global survey conducted by Gartner |
| rose by as much as 42 per cent during the | | | | Inc. found that shipment of handheld mobile |
| final quarter of 2006. | | | | devices rose by 18.4 per cent to 17.7 million |
| | | | in 2006. |
| Standalone handhelds posted their largest | | | | |
| fall yet, down 41 per cent compared to the | | | | The Gartner survey said RIM's BlackBerry unit |
| same period last year, the U.K.-based | | | | retained the top spot for PDA devices |
| research firm Ltd. said. | | | | shipped, accounting for 10 per cent or 3.5 |
| | | | million units shipped for the year. Palm's |
| "The message to vendors here is that they | | | | PDA shipments slid by 29 per cent to less |
| need a converged connected device in their | | | | than 2.8 million units from last year. |
| line up," said Pete Cunningham, senior | | | | |
| analyst for Canalys. | | | | The Gartner poll indicated an overall growth |
| | | | in demand for wireless access to e-mail and |
| "The PDA market has been on a downward trend | | | | the Internet. According to the research |
| for some time," agrees Kevin Restivo, senior | | | | company, 60 per cent of the devices shipped |
| analyst for consultancy firm SeaBoard Group | | | | last year were equipped with cellular |
| in Toronto. | | | | connectivity. |
| | | | |
| Market leaders such as Research In Motion | | | | Canalys said "although Palm had new smart |
| (RIM) of Waterloo, Ont. and Palm Inc. of | | | | phones on both Windows Mobile and Garnet OS |
| Sunnyvale, Calif., have been vigorous in | | | | platforms in Europe Middle East and Africa |
| adding consumer enticing features such as Web | | | | (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific region, its |
| browsing and e-mail pushing capabilities to | | | | usually strong, consumer-led Q4 was impeded |
| their products, to stay in the top five list, | | | | by a fall of 45 per cent in worldwide |
| said Restivo. | | | | shipments of handhelds, in line with market |
| | | | trends." |
| The Canalys survey said some 22.1 million | | | | |
| smart mobile devices were shipped during the | | | | Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, |
| fourth quarter of 2006. | | | | pulled in at number five with some 1.1 |
| | | | million units shipped. |
| Finnish phone company Nokia remained the | | | | |
| market leader accounting for 50 per cent of | | | | Another 5.4 million devices were shipped by |
| all mobile device shipments. The company | | | | other vendors. |
| shipped 11.1 million smart phones for the | | | | |
| period. The phones equipped with the Symbian | | | | In 2007, Canalys expects to see some |
| S60 open source operating systems, | | | | increased activity around devices using the |
| particularly the N73 devices, drove up the | | | | Linux OS as vendors move away from older |
| volume. | | | | proprietary phone operating systems. |
| | | | |
| Despite increasing pressures from competitors | | | | Microsoft mobile OS "will receive a boost" |
| in the mobile e-mail space, RIM performed | | | | from the arrival of new models and new brands |
| well during the quarter shipping some 1.8 | | | | using Windows Mobile 6.0, said Canalys. |
| million devices. | | | | |
| | | | The research firm, however said, it will be |
| "Sales of its new Pearl smart phone, | | | | hard to catch up with Symbian "particularly |
| positioned as a more consumer-oriented e-mail | | | | if it provides a competitive foundation for |
| device than its other models, helped RIM | | | | consumer-oriented smart phones at the lower |
| increase overall device shipment by 54 per | | | | price points that market demands. |