Palm Gains Worldwide Marketshare

Hobbyist site? Ouch, talk about a petty swipe from the compeittion there.

Don't let them get to you, Ed. You're more professional than any of the self-claimed professional sites when it comes to Palm news.

I just picked up my T-615C. I love it!!!

You asked how the PPC trolls would find a spin out of this story. Well, its quite easy: IDC afaik only measured retail sales. And contrary to your opinion the business market isnt only a niche market but quickly growing and including these fugures will show a completely different picture as shown in other surveys.

Also, unit shipments are not always the best measurement method. PPCs are sold at much higher prices. I think its safe to assume, they make a lot more money from selling them. So financially, and in the end thats the only thing that counts, PPC makers might be much better off even with a significantly lower market share. Thats my spin. And no, I dont hold any grudge against Palm or Palm users :-)

Who is the devil here? ^_^

And to the comment that price per unit is more important than volume. I would be more than happy for Compaq to sell one PDA next year at a cost of $1 Billion. That won't stop the Palm Revolution. Or Palm market share. Or an other facet of the Palm OS juggernaut. It just means that there is just one (1) guy out there with his billion-dollar PPC thinking that he is better than every other PDA owner in the world.

I'd even visit his cage once a week to toss him a ripe banana! :-D

PPC punks....

Consider this simplified example:
Palm sells 100 m100s at $100 apiece. They earn $10,000 in revenue off those. Assuming they net $50 per unit, they've got $5,000 profit.
Meanwhile, Compaq sells 50 iPaqs at $500 apiece. They earn $25,000 in revenue. Assuming they net $300 per unit, that's $15,000 profit.
On it's face, it looks like Compaq's kicked Palm's butt. BUT, Palm has twice the market share, which affects the long-term: Palm and Compaq release new models. Palm's builds on the simple UI of the m100 and adds color & expansion. Compaq's is basically an effort to fix all the #%!$@# problems in the previous unit, plus a couple of minor upgrades. The Palm model goes for $400, and Palm nets $300 off every unit. The Compaq goes for $600, and Compaq nets $400 off every unit. 80 of Palm's 100 original buyers decide to upgrade. Palm nets another $32,000. Compaq's original buyers don't see a reason to drop another $600, so only 20 of them go for the new iPaq. Compaq nets $8,000.

Over the long haul, Compaq would've earned profits of $23,000. Palm would've earned $37,000. This is why automakers, among others, develop low-end, mid-range, and high-end models. It's called the Quantity-Quality shift. It's also why Palm REALLY needs to put out a killer high-end model soon.

Either way, Market Share matters...

Including France?

Do you know, or does anyone else know for that matter, what Sony's percentage is in this survey? I'm just curious. I saw what their retail sales figures are in your other story, but the IDC figures in this story don't include anything on Sony, or did I miss it somewhere??

Thanks.

Foo Fighter complained that this was an unrealistic measurement and asked for the numbers of handhelds actually shipped, which this article lists.

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News Editor

No, not unrealistic. Just not conclusive. The survey conducted by IDC is more telling since it actually accounts for all units that have shipped worldwide. You can't simply measure the number of PDAs being purchased at consumer electronics retailers. Corporations, and even the education market, do not make procurements from retail outlets. It would be like measuring only retail PC sales without counting direct sales, which would completely exclude Dell.

I'm really waiting for this unit for months now. And now that it's finally available, I can't get it anywhere out here. Any suggestions how can I get one? Order online? Get myself into slavery? C'mon guys there has got to be a way.