DUBLIN, Ireland-The downturn in corporate information technology (IT) spending will continue to exert downward pressure on the personal digital assistant (PDA) market during the next 12 months at least, even though consumers still account for the majority of sales, according to a new report.
Strategy Analytics said global PDA sales will increase by 9 percent during 2002 and that lower IT budgets will ensure such modest growth is replicated for much of next year. Profit margins for vendors are also under serious pressure and expected to decline by up to 20 percent compared with 2001 levels.
“The PDA market has seen the aggressive entry of a group of vendors who are accustomed to the razor-thin margins of the PC world,” stated Chris Ambrosio, director of the Strategy Analytics Global Wireless Practice. “As a result, margin pressure is greater as more vendors compete for the same few customers. Corporate customers are not yet adopting wireless mobility on a broad scale, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
The firm expects consumers to purchase 60 percent of PDAs sold in 2003 and still account for the majority of PDA sales by 2007.
