“When you compare the markets for personal digital assistants to
mobile phones, the numbers demonstrate some challenges. Last year
smartphones overtook handheld PDAs with 13 million units sold
versus 11 million for the handhelds. But are we comparing apples
with pineapples? The total number of mobile phones sold last year
was around 500 million units and they have always outstripped sales
of PDAs. So let’s redefine the PDA category.“Of the 11 million PDA sales, around 15% included wireless
functionality, and that’s set to double this next year. Of course
the growth in wireless enabled laptops, hotspots and general Wi-Fi
hype is fuelling interest, but perhaps something extra is
happening. Laptops may be the weapon of choice for the executive
road warrior, but are wireless PDAs pocket-able power for the
pervasive proletariat…?”