"'It is critical for Palm to hold its ground while waiting for the launch of Palm OS 6, which is expected in early 2004,'" said Todd Kort, principal analyst for Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. "'OS 6 should put Palm on more even footing with Microsoft as wireless PDAs gain acceptance in enterprises in 2004.'"

"'Research in Motion (RIM) also had an excellent quarter in the United States, growing 128 percent,'" Kort said. "'RIM has introduced several new models that provide an incentive for subscribers to upgrade from older Mobitex-based units to models based on GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communications/general packet radio service) or CDMA 1x. RIM is rapidly expanding its presence outside North America and more deeply penetrating existing accounts.'"

Source: "Gartner Says Palm OS Licensees Accounted For 51 Percent of PDA Shipments and 41 Percent of Worldwide Revenue in Second Quarter of 2003," August 15, 2003

"'Roughly half of Palm's shipments in the first quarter of 2003 were from the $99 Zire. While Palm makes good margins on this unit, it needs better products at the upper end of the market if it is to maintain its strong position in the enterprise market,'" said Todd Kort, principal analyst for Gartner's worldwide computing platforms worldwide group. "'HP was forced to take a more aggressive pricing posture because of Dell's entry into the market, but otherwise Dell has not yet seriously eroded HP IPAQ sales.'"

"'Dell continued to perform well, as first quarter 2003 shipments of the Axim nearly tripled those from the fourth quarter of 2002. Momentum remained strong as Dell applied various promotions to maintain high levels of demand for its aggressively priced PDAs,'" said Kort.

Source: "Gartner Says Worldwide PDA Shipments Declined 11 Percent in the First Quarter of 2003," April 29, 2003

The PDA industry suffered through a difficult year as worldwide shipments totaled 12.1 million units in 2002, a 9.1 percent decline from 2001 results, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. Gartner Dataquest analysts said the industry has been impacted by the slow adoption of PDAs by enterprises.

"'We estimate that about 70 percent of all PDAs are purchased by consumers and only 30 percent by enterprises,'" said Todd Kort, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. "'The more lucrative enterprise market has been stagnant because of poor economic conditions and a perception that PDAs are not yet capable of delivering sufficient return on investment. The enterprise market is still another year away from embracing PDAs.'"

"'Wireless infrastructure is still immature, and wireless data security issues have not been fully resolved,'" Kort said. "'End users still have too many hassles getting wireless devices properly configured. On top of this, wireless data speeds are typically much less than advertised, and costs per megabyte are relatively high, especially in the United States.'"

Source: Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide PDA Market Suffers Through a Dismal Year in 2002," January 27, 2003

"As enterprises equip more employees with PDAs, they must understand the total cost of ownership (TCO) for these devices. Gartner, Inc. analysts said the TCO for a PDA per user can approach $3,000 a year."

"TCO for a wireless device will mostly add additional hardware, software and service costs on a per-user basis compared to mobile (but not wireless-enabled) devices. Additional software and service costs can vary, but average about $50 per month per user. Gartner found PDA TCO approaching $3,000 per user per year. Adding a wireless modem with a TCO of $1,392 will bring the cost to $4,392, comprised mostly of hardware, support and additional service fees."

"'When assessing the total costs of wireless mobile products, we found that the more capable the device the higher the cost. The more processing power it has, the more applications it can store, leading to higher support and operational costs,' said Phil Redman, research director for Gartner. 'Beyond typical costs for a mobile device, there is an additional and recurring cost element for wireless connectivity.'"

Source: "Gartner Says the Total Cost of Ownership for a PDA Can Cost Companies $3,000 Per User," June 10, 2002

"Gartner Dataquest projects 15.5 million PDAs will be shipped in 2002, an 18 percent increase from 2001 shipments of 13 million units. In 2001, the industry experienced a similar growth rate of 18.3 percent. This was considerably below 2000 shipment growth of 114 percent."

"Vendor inventories were at reasonable levels entering 2002 and Gartner Dataquest expects the first half of the year to continue to be impacted by the continuing economic slump."

"'Roughly three-fourths of all PDAs purchased worldwide in 2001 were sold to individuals who bought them with their own funds, and the remainder were purchased or reimbursed by enterprises,' said Todd Kort, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. 'The increasing capabilities of these devices and the growing availability of wireless technologies are beginning to stimulate large corporate purchases as solid productivity gains are realized, based on applications such as wireless e-mail or accessing corporate databases from remote locations.'"

"The market continues to shift toward devices with color displays, more powerful processors, and more storage capacity, and Gartner Dataquest forecasts end-user spending to increase more than 20 percent in 2002, to $4.6 billion, up from $3.8 billion in 2001."

Source: "Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide PDA Shipments Will Increase 18 Percent in 2002," April 3, 2002

"Worldwide PDA shipments in 2001 totaled 13.1 million units, an 18 percent increase from 2000, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). In the fourth quarter of 2001, worldwide PDA shipments increased 58 percent from the third quarter of 2001, but were down 2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2000."

"'Considering the current economic conditions and the PDA market's weakness shown in the previous quarter, the PDA industry performed surprisingly well in the fourth quarter,' said Todd Kort, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. 'Strong holiday season purchases were a big contributor to the sales upturn. Palm and Handspring's average selling price fell to $165 as their price cuts continued and older inventory was pushed through the retail channel at low prices.'"

Source: "Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide PDA Industry Grew 18 Percent in 2001," February 13, 2002