Comments on: Converged Mobile Device Market Grows 42% in 2006

According to IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, the worldwide market for converged mobile devices pushed past the 20 million unit mark during the fourth quarter of 2006, and past the 80 million unit mark for the year. Fourth quarter of 2006 shipments were up 33.5% more than the same quarter a year ago. For all of 2006, vendors shipped at total of 80.5 million devices, 42.0% more than what they shipped in 2005.

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Wow - poof!

SeldomVisitor @ 3/1/2007 5:26:14 PM #

From "Top Dog" to "Dog Gone".

Wow.

RE: Wow - poof!

hkklife @ 3/1/2007 5:34:01 PM #

Actually, in the face of the slew of competing handhelds in '07 and beyond...."dog food" might be a more appropriate moniker!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Wow - poof!

cervezas @ 3/1/2007 6:56:55 PM #

Poof? Was Palm ever in the top five of IDC's "worldwide converged devices"?

Handhelds aren't counted. IDC's "converged devices" definition refers to devices that obviate the need to carry a separate handheld and phone:

[Converged] mobile devices are either voice- or data-centric and are capable of synchronizing personal information and/or email with server, desktop, or laptop computers. Positioned to answer the "multiple device question," and replacing the need to carry a mobile phone and a pen-based handheld or a mobile phone and a pager.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't recall Palm ever making it into the top five of that list on the strength of the Treo alone.

Look at Motorola's 104% growth. That's almost all mobile Linux and almost all Asia. 'Course that's the same with Panasonic and NEC.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Wow - poof!

SeldomVisitor @ 3/1/2007 7:14:21 PM #

Asia? Linux?

How about the Q?

RE: Wow - poof!

cervezas @ 3/1/2007 7:19:10 PM #

Asia? Linux? How about the Q?

The Q lost steam pretty quickly after the initial buzz, and in any case was small potatoes compared to the Ming in China. Moto didn't produce a GSM version of the Q in 2006 so it never broke out of the comparatively small U.S. smartphone market.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Wow - poof!

SeldomVisitor @ 3/2/2007 6:14:27 AM #

> The Q lost steam pretty quickly after the initial buzz...

How do you know that?

RE: Wow - poof!

hkklife @ 3/2/2007 9:49:15 AM #

From the sources I've talkd to (store levels and district manager types) at Verizon, the 700w and Q both have rather high return rates last year to VZW stores. I hear of people returning the 700w for the 650 (or just a RAZR), returning the Q for the 700p, and returning the 700p straight up for their money back.

I'd actually wager that due to the user-friendliness and touchscreen, the 700p is a more appealing handset to neophyte smartphone users than veteran POS users who are aggravated by the lag/crashes/poor battery life etc.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Wow - poof!

cervezas @ 3/2/2007 10:35:29 AM #

> The Q lost steam pretty quickly after the initial buzz...
How do you know that?

An analyst I talked to last month. (Yeah, yeah, I know....) You can find hints of this publicly, though. Like here: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070105/motorola_outlook.html?.v=20

My point wasn't to say the Q has been a flop (I don't think it has) just that by all accounts it hasn't contributed to Motorola's sales growth nearly as much as their Linux smartphones. It's interesting because the products that are driving Moto's growth in the market measured by IDC are ones that most people in the US and EMEA aren't even aware exist.

Also interesting to see how language has profound effects on handset design. In countries with Latin alphabets smartphone designs that cram dozens of alphabetic keys onto the front of the handset are the rage. But you'll never see the Q, the Treo or the E61 in China. The Chinese language means that smartphones like the Ming are going the opposite direction and dispensing with the physical keypad entirely. Think about how this fact impacts OS design priorities and you may get a hint of another reason why Palm has been wary about ALP.

On the other hand, Palm must be pondering the fact that the Treo form factor has pretty limited prospects in the markets that are growing fastest. You have to wonder if the company that made the touchscreen computer famous isn't thinking "ya know... maybe big touch screen interfaces weren't such a bad idea after all."

Maybe Palm's revolutionary "Third Business" product will be the VisorPhone 2.0.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Wow - poof!

cervezas @ 3/2/2007 11:12:50 AM #

Think about how this fact impacts OS design priorities and you may get a hint of another reason why Palm has been wary about ALP.

So I'm not misunderstood: ALP is designed to support QWERTY keyboards and the like. I'm just saying that Palm may worry that because of its Asian focus down the road ACCESS might not put their energies into innovating ALP in the same directions visa à vis input technologies that Palm itself would do if they had full control of the OS.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog