Worldwide PDA Market Up

Gartner reports that worldwide PDA shipments have increased by 32% for the second quarter.

Shipments of 3.6 million units have been reported for the second quarter of 2005, a number 36% greater than last year’s performance.  At this pace 15 million units will ship by the end of the year, surpassing the old record set in 2001 of 13.2 million units.

“Wireless PDAs are increasingly seen as an adjunct or alternative to notebook computers, while favorable exchange rates have enabled more Europeans to purchase PDAs at an attractive price. These factors have aided in the recovery of the slumping PDA market of 2002-2004.” said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner’s Computing Platforms Worldwide group.

In the same period, BlackBerry shipments have grown 64.7%, making Research in Motion the no. 1 ranked vendor of worldwide PDAs.  Strong growth for T-Mobile’s Sidekick II and Pocket PC Phone Edition put it in the top 5, while Dell and HP’s line have suffered lackluster sales.