The worldwide market for handheld devices experienced its third straight year of decline in 2004 according to research firm IDG.
“”Consumers don’t see the need to invest $600 in a handheld device if a smart phone can do the same basic tasks,” said David Linsalata, an analyst in IDC’s mobile devices program.
In 2004, shipments of handheld devices slipped to less than 10 million units for the first time in five years. During 2004, 9.2 million devices were shipped, a decrease of 13 percent from last year’s total of 10.6 million devices shipped. “The vendors haven’t been able to break away from the personal information manager [PIM] market,” Linsalata said. “The handheld computer needs to evolve beyond its core functionality.”"
