PDA market takes a nose dive, death imminent

We've been saying it for months now but it was bound to happen sooner or later: the PDA, once the most coveted of all handheld business gadgets, is officially on its way to the junk pile. According to a new IDC report, worldwide PDA shipments have decreased by a jaw-dropping 43.5 percent during the last year. What's more, sales of PDAs during the second quarter of 2007 were 20 percent lower than sales during the first quarter. Rarely does one see such a dramatic downturn in a market so quickly--cast in this light, it's easy to see why many of the largest manufacturers of PDAs, including Dell and Fujitsu-Siemens, have announced plans to exit the market. "The market as a whole is still contracting, and other vendors, with fewer resources and less distribution, may be forced to withdraw from the market altogether," IDC's Ramon Llamas said. "With double-digit negative growth continuing to characterize the market, IDC expects the handheld device market to contract further before it reaches a stable point." While the PDA may now be doomed to live out the remainder of its days as a niche market, I imagine that the diminutive gadgets will continue to live on in the hearts--and pockets--of true believers forever.

For more on the PDA's imminent death:
- see this Ars Technica article