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