The Handango Yardstick - Key indicator of mobile software

[Andy Sjostrom]

The mobile software power house <a href="http://www.handango.com">Handango</a> publishes a report called "The Handango Yardstick" quarterly. The latest report for second quarter 2002 (April 1 to June 30) is an interesting read if you are interested in how the software market for mobile devices is doing. Knowing that a software market in any IT segment is a key indicator of how well that segment is doing all together, I hereby dub "The Handango Yardstick": Key Indicator of mobile software sales. Here are some highlights from the latest report:<br /><br />Average selling price: $20.05<br />Top devices adding software: iPAQ Pocket PC (first place)<br />Games and entertainment accounted for than 38% of Handango sales.<br /><br />If you want, you can <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/files/Handango Yardstick.pdf">download the report</a> in <a href="http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a> (PDF) format!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/handangosales_01.gif" />

[Jimmy Dodd]

OK, I admit I didn't download and read the report (give me a break, I'm at work). What I want to know is how they come up with the figure for
Top devices adding software: iPAQ Pocket PC


Now, I'm not disputing the fact, but I don't remember ever being asked what device I'm downloading an app to be used on. Sometimes you have to download for a specific processor, but not for a specific device.

Am I missing something here?

[cscullion]

Another interesting point: Handango is a mixed-hardware vendor... that is, they sell software for both PocketPC and Palm-powered devices. In the PocketPC world, their competition is not very significant, but in the Palm world, they are still a second-place vendor to PalmGear. That being the case, their data on "top devices adding software" needs to be factored a bit before a market-wide trend can be established. If they sell maybe 70% of all PocketPC add-on software, but only 30% of all Palm addon-software world-wide (i have no idea what the numbers really are), then it's still likely that the highest number of add-on titles are going to a Palm device.

In isolation, though, I think the data shows some interesting trends that might very well be market-wide... such as the breakdown by application type (games, personal productivity, etc.)

[Sven Johannsen]

Funny, I had exactly the same question as BwanaJim, but I did read the report, such as it is. It is a one page graphic intensive ad. It does say though the numbers are compiled from

Based on software sales from sources using Handango AMPP: the Palm Software Connection, the Microsoft Pocket PC Software Store, the Nokia Americas' Software Market, the Kyocera Smartphone Software Store, the Handspring Software Store, the Sony CLIE Software Store, the
Sharp Zaurus Software Store, the Compaq Software Store, the Casio CASSIOPEIA Software Store and more than 100 other online sources.

Guess those are all Handango affiliates.

[Clint Patterson]

Hey, good question regarding the device rankings. We grouped all models in a device family (e.g. Palm V, Vx were the "Palm V" family). This was necessary because many users know only their device name (e.g. iPAQ, not iPAQ 3800).

Obviously, the entire Yardstick is only from data we can track (i.e. sales from the Handango Web site and the sites that use our platform - Palm, MSFT, Sony, Handspring, HP, Nokia, etc). But, it's more than "affiliate" sales. The OEM sites are entire sites that Handango produces and manages behind the scenes. If we'd taken only affiliates and our site, the results would be quite different.

We thought the mixed OS hardware list was interesting but have had several requests to break this out by OS, which we'll do for this quarter. If there are other stats you'd like to see or suggestions, please feel free to email me directly.

Thanks!
Clint Patterson
Handango
[email protected]