Market Share Numbers For The First Quarter of 2003

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1041-998047.html?tag=fd_top">http://news.com.com/2100-1041-998047.html?tag=fd_top</a><br /><br />Not a lot of details here but I am sure they will be forthcoming over the next few days.<br /><br />• Palm still #1 with 36% of the market. 36% - isn't that about <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=172">half of what it was in 1999</a>?<br />• HP regained the #2 slot with 18% of the market. The new 1910 is credited with lifting HP up.<br />• Sony fell back to #3 with 16% of the market.<br />• Dell popped into existance in the #4 slot with 6.5% of the market.<br />• Toshiba is at #5 with 3.6%<br />• Handspring is at #7 with 2.9%. No clue who #6 is.<br /><br /><b>Update</b>: <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110392,00.asp">PCWorld</a> has some updated information with new numbers that allowed me to put this table together.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2003/20030423-q1marketshare.gif" /><br />"Other" is basically a plug at the bottom since I only knew the top 4 OEM volumes and the totals, so Toshiba, Handspring, Handera, Casio and others are in there. All of the reports say the decline is 21.3% too, but no matter what calculator you use, going from 3.16M to 2.45M units is 22.5% decline no matter how you slice it, so somewhere the numbers in these reports are a bit off.<br /><br />Bottom line is the market was down over 20% in volume. HP declined just 7% in volume by comparison and because of larger declines by competitors, it allowed HP to snag another 3% of market share. Dell's changes don't make any sense because they were non-existant last year, but they sold 159,000 units in the first quarter. Very impressive for basically one model and no retail presence. :way to go:

[Duncan]

Very interesting...! Does this give some indication that HP are stealing the 'I want my PDA small' market from Palm? Can Palm be best pleased at keeping the top spot largely due to sales of a dirt cheap (and therefore not as profitable for numbers sold) model?

I'm also curious to know if this article knows that the h1910 was HP's big gun - or if it is just an assumption...

Surprised to see Sony fall back - I would half expect them to stay at number two but at the expense of Palm...

[Cortex]

So

PalmOS = 55%

PPC = 29%

wheres the missing 20% or so?

[Duncan]

Symbian, Linux, other Pocket PC.

[Foo Fighter]

6% for Dell is very impressive performance, considering they are (at the moment) a one product player in the mobile space.

[Duncan]

6% for Dell is very impressive performance, considering they are (at the moment) a one product player in the mobile space.

Doubly so since they don't have a retail presence.

[Jason Dunn]

6% for Dell is very impressive performance, considering they are (at the moment) a one product player in the mobile space.

Doubly so since they don't have a retail presence.

Triply so since they've only been at it for five months. :D

[Duncan]

Triply so since they've only been at it for five months.

Quadruply so since they were touched with the ugly stick! 8)

[ppcsurfr]

Where has this conversation gone to!!! 8O

[Foo Fighter]

Where has this conversation gone to!!! 8O

The usual place. Off topic, and out of control. 0X :mrgreen:

[Ed Hansberry]

Check the updates everyone.

Can you imagine the disaster Palm would have had without the $99 Zire. They dropped 30% of their volume with the Zire. Without it, they might have dropped to the #2 slot. Anyone know what Zire volumes were? I had heard over 100,000/mo, but can't find any hard data on that.

[Duncan]

It tells you in the article - 850,000 units in the first five months.

[LarDude]

So

PalmOS = 55%

PPC = 29%

wheres the missing 20% or so?

MIssing 20% or so notwithstanding (OK, actually more like 16%),
how does:
PalmOS = 55%
PPC = 29%
compare with the situation 1 year ago ??
Call me jaded, but that doesn't sound so dramatically different.

Now if the missing 16% were mostly PPC, then I'd be impressed.
(Andy's post this morning regarding the EMEA numbers were
far more impressive). :lol:

[Ed Hansberry]

It tells you in the article - 850,000 units in the first five months.
Oh, right - the first article. Duh. :oops:

Well, I still don't know how much of that was Nov/Dec vs Jan-Mar. Suffice it to say, Palm would have been down to 500K units at the most without the Zire propping it up. This doesn't bode well for them at all when a $99 device makes their quarter for them.

[Duncan]

This doesn't bode well for them at all when a $99 device makes their quarter for them.

Of course in every market there are two battles being fought - the battle for hearts and minds and the battle for dollars.

Palm might be said (by some) to have won the first (to some degree) with the Zire - frankly though all they are likely to have done is cement themselves as providers of a glorified organiser. I mean - who actually bought the Zire - and why when you could get a far superior (if older), and frankly better to look at and hold, Palm m125 for less?! I found myself re-reading the specs for the Zire, when I first saw them, thinking there must be a mistake!

The battle for dollars (which Palm cannot afford to lose) seems to be going against Palm quite badly. The Zire may sell well - but it isn't going to solve Palm's money problems anytime soon!

Sony to buy Palm before the end of 2003 - if I was a betting man I'd be asking fo odds right now...

[midtoad]

http://news.com.com/2100-1041-998047.html?tag=fd_top

• Palm still #1 with 36% of the market. 36%
• Sony fell back to #3 with 16% of the market.
• Handspring is at #7 with 2.9%. No clue who #6 is.


That adds up to 55% for PalmOS, not including any contribution from Handera, Samsung and other licencees. Still a majority, but definitely down.

The Palm OS market has to be a lot more profitable for the licencees than Pocket PC is for its licencees, since there are few Palm OS licencees, and about 20 for Pocket PC.

The big rise in HP popularity points to the fact that the 1910 is a step in the right direction - if capturing market share is a desire. The vast majority of PDA users just do not want machines that cost $US 600 or more.

[Timothy Rapson]

Thanks, Ed for the great look at this.

I was having trouble understanding another posting of 1st quarter results that said Dell had only 2% of the market. That made no sense to me. Now, 159,000 units I can understand, and 6% I can understand. They are right on track to sell the 1-1.2 million they projected for 2003. I think that is a stellar achievement.

The overall market seems to be moving very slowly (mostly down for the last year and all the more boring for it.) towards a PPC gaining and Palm slowly losing. I expected to see a lot more TT sales on the Palm side to restore their lead in the $350-450 area that they once so owned with the Vx and even the M505.

I am at a complete loss to understand how HP gained market share. I thought the Axim would take Ipaq sales away one for one. Perhaps the 1910 sales (and they must really be better than HP planned for. I still can't get a 1910 anywhere in our town of 90,000. Neither Circuit City, Staples, nor OfficeMax have them.) are taking sales almost exclusively away from Palm TT. The 1910 is the PDA that a LOT of folks have apparently been waiting for and I bet HP is paying HTC (or whoever) very low prices for them, what with no SDIO or full standard 64 meg memory costs.

Wonder what year end results will be for 2003.

[Nellwaskilled]

Q2 2003 will be POS best shot since there is almost no new models introduced in PPC side and the ppc2k3 isn't out yet.

starting June Microsoft will start introducing the new OS, new models, followed by some less traditional PDA form factors.

I doubt Palm will introduce new models in Q3 on top of Z71, T|C, so the sales number will all hinge on price cutting and SOny's new models.

[Ed Hansberry]

I am at a complete loss to understand how HP gained market share. I thought the Axim would take Ipaq sales away one for one. Perhaps the 1910 sales (and they must really be better than HP planned for
I think, personally, the 1910 has taken sales from the Clie (excluding the NR/V/X series) whatever is left of the M515 and the T|T. With the 1910 and the 2200, it looks like the OEMs (or HP at least) is setting their sites squarely on the competition - PalmOS - vs their Pocket PC competitors, and IMHO, they have hit the mark. :)

I agree the Axim probably did take some 3900 iPAQ sales with it, but given Dell went up far more than HP went down, I'd say Dell also got some first time users or people with older PDAs ready for a trade up and are comfortable with Dell's name - and price.

[Tom C]

How about US market share??? Are the numbers even out?