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Windows Mobile Takes Over As RIM Shifts To Smartphones |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Thursday, 24 May 2007 |
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Page 2 of 3
Despite Microsoft Windows taking over the data-centric PDA market in trems of OS shipments, RIM continues as top dog in the PDA unit sales even though its product mix has shifted toward smartphones.
The
BlackBerry Pearl represented a whopping 55 percent of RIM's total
shipments in the first quarter of 2007 and if local stockists can be
believed the company could have sold even more if they could supply
greater quantities.
Gartner
says that while the Pearl was a great performer for RIM, the company's
PDA shipments were essentially flat in Q1, but should grow through the
remainder of 2007 as the new 88xx and 83xx models replace the 87xx.
In comparison, Mio Technology, the leading Microsoft licensee, shipped nearly 568,000 PDAs, all with integrated GPS capability.
Europe,
the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) accounted for 57 percent of Mio's
shipments, driven by sales of the C510 and C250 car navigation devices
into Southern European countries.
Meanwhile, Samsung,
Sharp and Nokia round out the top five vendors in the first quarter of
2007 with market shares of 8.8 percent, 8.5 percent and 6.2 percent,
respectively.
Samsung
benefited from a strong marketing effort led by Cingular in the US to
promote the BlackJack, seen by many as a low-cost alternative to the
BlackBerry.
Palm
continued its focus on the smartphone market and dropped out the top
five in the PDA market in the first quarter of 2007. Palm shipped
297,000 PDAs in the first quarter and ranked seventh in global PDA
shipments.
See next page for marketshare tables:
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