“Come on in, there’s room for everybody!”
That’s apparently the call a variety of companies hear when it comes to the personal digital assistant market. And even though PDA giants Palm and Handspring have recently announced severely sluggish sales, that hasn’t stopped a flood of new PDAs from hitting the shelves.
In the mix are Sony, FutureCom Global, Fujitsu, Sharp, MediaSolv, Casio, Royal Business, Acer and several others. Is there really enough room for so many PDA players?
Analyst firm IDC predicts the market for “smart” handheld devices will grow to more than $26 billion by 2004, supporting the sale of 63 million units. That’s quite a jump from the 13 million units sold last year.
“The low end of the market can be supported by multiple players,” said Mark Margebicius, a senior analyst with Gartner. At least in the short term, he said, the water’s fine, so the more the merrier!
“I think there’s room for new players in this market,” said Jennifer DiMarzio, an industry analyst with Summit Strategies Inc.
And there are plenty of new players to keep track of.
Sony recently released its Clie handheld, which can play digital audio and video files and boasts a high-resolution screen. The device can even play MP3 audio files-a must for the company that offers the Walkman.
Other PDA players aren’t so well known. MediaSolv released a PDA offering Web access and e-mail access that the company said goes for as low as $25. It also features a new Bluetooth-enabled prototype chip called ETHERchip.
Another company, FutureCom Global, offers a PDA/phone product that includes all kinds of bells and whistles. It operates on multiple networks; includes a global positioning system module; features a Bluetooth chip; and works with a wireless printer.
