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