Mobile devices keep on shipping

European shipments grow by 125 per cent in Q1 2003

Mobile devices continue to buoy the IT market, with European shipments growing by 125 per cent in the first quarter of 2003, according to Canalys.com.

More than 1.5 million devices were shipped in Q1, compared with half a million in Q1 the year before.

Most of the growth came from the smartphone sector and from vendors entering the PDA market with Microsoft-powered devices. Palm retained its handheld market lead with a 15 per cent share, but sales were flat.

Andy Buss, senior analyst at Canalys, said: "Palm had a limited product range compared with competitors, but it has changed that by launching mid-range and enterprise handhelds recently."

Dell entered the handheld market in Q1, taking two per cent of the market with its low-end Axim devices, according to the report. "Toshiba and Hewlett Packard are coming in at lower price points now as well, but Dell is very aggressive on price," the report said.

Sales of Symbian-powered smartphones were up by nearly 799 per cent year-on-year for the quarter, and Microsoft's Smartphone platform also made an entry with the Orange SPV. Orange now has a four per cent share of the smartphone market.

Buss said Symbian sales grew because Symbian licensees did not release products. "Psion's exit from the market caused a fall in sales, and Nokia's Communicator and the Ericsson R380 didn't fill the gap," he said.

"But the advent of the Nokia 7650 and the Sony Ericsson P800 are the reason for the rise, along with other Symbian devices."

Keith Yaxley, sales and marketing manager at Data2Hand, said: "I don't think there will be a Betamax-versus-VHS-style war about which device wins. There will be winners all round."