Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Smartphone Sales To Surpass Handheld Sales In Europe
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 07:00 AM
http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=9353106
"In its "EMEA Mobile Device Trends 2003" report, research company Canalys predicted that about 3.3 million smartphones will be sold in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region this year, compared to just 2.8 million wireless handhelds."
Now that Smartphones are shipping from various vendors with the Symbian and MS Smartphone OS, consumers seem to be snapping them up. So should handheld OEMs counter with a new round of converged devices?
"The researchers also said that the makers of handheld devices would be unwise to try to counter the smartphone boom by launching new wireless handhelds because so far, only few such devices have sold. "Vendors should only launch wireless handhelds if they can differentiate themselves substantially from the devices that are already out there," Buss said. He said a better strategy would be to focus on integrated Bluetooth in handsets and PDAs, if manufacturers want to capture the largest slice of the market possible."
It was a close poll, but our readers seemed to prefer the two device world. There's more info here. I expect the same to happen in North America once Smartphones become available - especially on the CDMA networks. Just give me a Bluetooth radio!
"In its "EMEA Mobile Device Trends 2003" report, research company Canalys predicted that about 3.3 million smartphones will be sold in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region this year, compared to just 2.8 million wireless handhelds."
Now that Smartphones are shipping from various vendors with the Symbian and MS Smartphone OS, consumers seem to be snapping them up. So should handheld OEMs counter with a new round of converged devices?
"The researchers also said that the makers of handheld devices would be unwise to try to counter the smartphone boom by launching new wireless handhelds because so far, only few such devices have sold. "Vendors should only launch wireless handhelds if they can differentiate themselves substantially from the devices that are already out there," Buss said. He said a better strategy would be to focus on integrated Bluetooth in handsets and PDAs, if manufacturers want to capture the largest slice of the market possible."
It was a close poll, but our readers seemed to prefer the two device world. There's more info here. I expect the same to happen in North America once Smartphones become available - especially on the CDMA networks. Just give me a Bluetooth radio!
