Europe has to play catch-up in peripherals

Europe is lagging so far behind the US in the peripherals market that vendors are delaying product launches until the market picks up.

IBM, which last week launched its Windows CE-based Workpad PC peripheral in the US, said it would not be launching the product in Europe until 'at least the end of the year' because the European market was 'not ready' for these products.

The Workpad Z50 is larger than a handheld PC, but smaller and lighter than a laptop and with longer battery life, designed to be used as a device to connect to a PC.

Mario Brendo, Workpad product marketing manager at IBM, said: 'What we have seen is that CE- based PC devices will offer a big market opportunity in Europe but, at the moment it is lagging behind. Traditionally, Europe is always more reluctant about transition. For example, with the likes of GSM, there is a slow growth and then a boom.'

Alison McKenzie, research manager at IDC, agreed: 'The US is more technologically advanced, and that's why we believe these products will advance more rapidly over there.

However, products such as smart phones will have higher adoption in Europe because GSM is a standard.' She added that prices of the peripherals would have to drop before they are widely accepted by the European market.

Randy Giusto, director of mobile technologies at IDC in the US, said: 'Europe lags behind the US in PC adoption alone, so to get PC devices adopted into the enterprise is twice as hard a sell - why buy a device for a PC when you don't even have a PC?'