Worldwide PDA Production Up by 29 Pct. to 14.05M Units in 2001
July 2, 2001 (TOKYO) -- Nikkei Market Access released survey results showing that worldwide production of personal digital assistants increased sharply in 2000 by 80 percent year-on-year, breaking a ceiling of 10 million to reach 10.87 million units.
With the output in 1999, which doubled from the previous year, worldwide PDA production marked a high growth rate for two straight years. The survey results, however, projected worldwide PDA production would end up around 14.05 million units in 2001, with a lower growth rate of 29 percent on a year-to-year basis.
This growth rate is fairly high in an environment in which other IT-related businesses such as personal computers and mobile phones are flagging. But the PDA industry is using its reckoning, which projected in early 2001 the yearly output as reaching 18 million or 20 million units, counting on the PDA as a "post-PC."
The biggest factor that slashed the estimated production for 2001 from what was anticipated at the beginning of the year is the dull performance of Palm Inc. of the United States, which dominates more than half of the PDA market. Palm produced 5.78 million units in 2000, seizing 53.1 percent of the market. In early 2001 up until February, most PDA component suppliers anticipated that Palm's yearly production would be around 10 million units in volume. However, a downturn in Palm's turnover became obvious around March 2001. Even if Palm manages to improve its performance quickly, it is very likely to reduce its market share by 10 points or more.
Contrary to Palm, Compaq Computer Corp. of the United States is so vigorous as to double its market share in 2001 from 5.6 percent in 2000. Handspring Inc. of the United States is also expected to expand its second-biggest share in the market by 2 points or 3 points in 2001 from 11.7 percent in 2000.
Liquid-crystal displays for PDAs are shifting rapidly to color models. Higher performance and sophistication of PDAs are increasingly requiring color displays. PDAs with color displays accounted for 21 percent of all PDAs in 1999 and 29 percent in 2000, and are expected to be 45 percent in 2001, making up almost half of the total output for this year.
(Ken Nakamura, Nikkei Market Access) |
