Psion Loses Market Share
To U.S. Hand-Held Makers
By DAVID PRINGLE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Psion PLC's share of the fast-growing European market for hand-held computers fell dramatically last year, figures collated by research firm canalys.com suggest.
While the number of hand-held computers sold in Western Europe in 2000 was twice that in 1999, U.K.-based Psion only managed to increase sales 5.9% to about 175,000 units, according to canalys.com. The market research firm's figures show Psion, Europe's only major supplier of hand-held computers, as having 8.9% of the market in 2000, compared with 17.5% in 1999.
By contrast, the market leader, U.S.-based Palm Inc., saw its unit sales in Western Europe rise 129% to 1.2 million units, increasing its market share to 60.6%, canalys.com said.
The news of Psion's poor performance is a surprise given the company's October statement that while the weakness of the euro and components problems had damaged the profitability of all four of its divisions, revenues in its hand-held-computers division were strong.
Chris Jones, an analyst with canalys.com, said Psion's decision to persist with building so-called clamshell hand-held computers with built-in keyboards had cost it market share. Nearly all the other suppliers of hand-held computers have brought out flat Palm-style devices that use styluses, which have proven popular with consumers, rather than keyboards. |
