HTC Rides High on PDA Phone Sales

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20051005PR205.html' target='_blank'>http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20051005PR205.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Handheld device giant High Tech Computer (HTC) is expected to see its gross margins rise from 21.7% in 2004 to 24.2% this year, buoyed by rising sale contributions of its 3G PDA phone segment, according to a recent report by Merrill Lynch. In addition, the investment bank upgraded HTC's earnings per share (EPS) projection to NT$30.38 (US$0.91) for this year, up 6% from its original estimate. Sales of the HTC Universal, the company's first 3G mobile phone based on the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, will account for 8% of HTC's revenues this year and 21% in 2006, Merrill Lynch anticipates."</i><br /><br />2004 saw HTC ship 2,160,000 PDAs, 791,000 PDA Phones and 974,000 Smartphones. It is anticipated that by the end of 2005, there will be a 3% slide in PDA shipments, but a 340% boom in PDA Phone shipments (with Smartphones also experiencing growth at 67%). While there are other manufacturers in the industry, HTC tends to be a major player, so these statistics may help portray the current state of the Windows Mobile market. It seems this idea of convergence is sitting well with the common folk and that the death of the standalone PDA may come sooner than expected. Your thoughts?

[surur]

I know I prefer PDA phones, but I did not know smartphones sold so poorly. To only sell 974 smartphones for the whole year! ;) Smartphones must be dying ;)

Surur

[pocketpcadmirer]

Even i also think that smarties(smart phones) of M$ are going to merge to ppc phone edition line. Just take a quick glance at WM 5.
That is indeed the biggest endeavor by microsoft in mobile field(just a couple of weeks ago a 'gentleman' on this site made us cognizant of running a smartphone app on his new o2 exec.
So, may be in the release of WM 6, there may not be a smartphone line. I mean, if those figures are REAL then MS smarty line is surely in BIG danger.
Take a look at the ppc phones. Man !! they have everything..gsm module, bluetooth, wi-fi, infrared(!), even keyboards in built !! THEY ARE THE TRUE MOBILE WARRIORS.
Now even not-so-geeky guys purchase ppc phone..it brings him multimedia experience and he(and sometimes she) can now carry his whole multimedia collection on the move(duh SDs are getting really cheap these days !!). Some buy them just for looking a bit different.
Face it !! pocket pc phones really rock !!

Sunny

[saru83]

This really makes sence, Pocket PC Phone is the best coz frakly speaking i dont c my self carrying a PDA &amp; a Stand alone Phone, that was way back in the late 90's but now why the heck will i do that? we have really powerfull PPC Phones with tons of features, so this figures really makes sence to me... :wink:

Well, concerning the Smartphones, i'm a lil bit dissapointed, but what the heck!! if u have to choose between the Image Jam and a smartphone, which one do u choose? the Jam is almost the same size of a smart phone BUT with much MORE Power!! well u what i mean... :mrgreen:

[Jerry Raia]

Look at the chart in the article. It is in "k" units. 974 should read 974,000. Feel better now? :lol:

[Darius Wey]

Look at the chart in the article. It is in "k" units. 974 should read 974,000. Feel better now? :lol:

Much better. :lol: Nice catch, Jerry.

[pocketpcadmirer]

me too..actually I was flumoxxed to see those figs of smarties

[surur]

OK, enough fun. Heres a Serious Question. Are Treo sales counted under smartphones or pda phones ? :twisted:

Surur

[Darius Wey]

OK, enough fun. Heres a Serious Question. Are Treo sales counted under smartphones or pda phones ? :twisted:

If the folk in the stats department know what they're doing, then I'd say PDA Phone, despite it always being called the Treo Smartphone.

[Phillip Dyson]

OK, enough fun. Heres a Serious Question. Are Treo sales counted under smartphones or pda phones ? :twisted:

If the folk in the stats department know what they're doing, then I'd say PDA Phone, despite it always being called the Treo Smartphone.

My understanding is that the analyst groups (with few exceptions) have always grouped the Treo in with the Smartphones. This is a source of much verbal combat, usually around the "The PDA is Dead" arena.

I think this is mostly Microsofts fault. Palm was happy to call their Trea a smartphone, but MS chose (maybe for good reason) to split the PDA phone from the Smartphone by virtual of the seperate strains of the WM OS.

[aicon]

I think this is mostly Microsofts fault. Palm was happy to call their Trea a smartphone, but MS chose (maybe for good reason) to split the PDA phone from the Smartphone by virtual of the seperate strains of the WM OS.




I think that's a plus for M$ actually. With the evolving trend in mobile use ALL phones will eventually be smarter than a typical entry-level phone is now.

PDA use though is not for everyone who wants to be able to make a call while out and about. People who use PDA phones just don't want to lug two devices around (even to the extent that they will sacrifice some functionality).

A lot of people who DON'T need a PDA find the extra size of one way too much for the added benefits.