Worldwide personal digital assistant (PDA) shipments totaled 3.4 million units in the first quarter of 2005, a 25% increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner. This was the strongest first quarter the industry has experienced.

The average selling price (ASP) of PDAs increased 15% in the first quarter of 2005 compared to the first quarter of 2004. The ASP was US$406, which is the highest since Gartner began ASP estimates in 2000. Gartner analysts attributed the increased prices to the popularity of high-end wireless models.

"PDAs with integrated wireless local area network (LAN) or cellular capabilities accounted for approximately 55% of all PDAs shipped in the first quarter of 2005," said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. "This increase is primarily the result of the growing popularity of wireless e-mail, with users favoring larger displays and QWERTY keyboards that are operated with both hands."

Research in Motion's BlackBerry shipments grew 75.6% in the first quarter, as the company became the No. 1 ranked vendor in worldwide PDA shipments. palmOne PDA shipments declined 26.3%, and its market share fell to 18%, its lowest market share since it entered the market in 1996. Nokia's re-entry into the wireless PDA market with the 9300 and 9500 enabled it to move into the No. 4 position.

Company	1Q05 Shipments	1Q05 Market Share (%)	1Q04 Shipments	1Q04 Market Share (%)	1Q05 - 1Q04 Growth (%)
RIM	711,000	20.8	405,000	14.8	75.6
palmOne	614,750	18.0	834,591	30.5	-26.3
HP	601,352	17.6	575,853	21.0	4.4
Nokia	340,000	9.9	-	0.0	N/A
Dell	217,000	6.3	163,250	6.0	32.9
Others	935,010	27.3	757,378	27.7	23.5
Total	3,419,112	100.0	2,736,072	100.0	25.0

Notes: Totals do not include smartphones, such as theTreo 650 and BlackBerry 7100, but include wireless PDAs, such as the iPAQ6315 and Nokia 9300. Columns may not add to totals shown because ofrounding.
N/A = Not applicable

Microsoft has become the No. 1 PDA operating system (OS),as it accounted for 46% of worldwide shipments. RIM assumed the secondposition, as Palm OS slipped to the No. 3 ranking, due to Palm OSshipments declining 38.8%. "We expect that palmOne will be addingother operating systems and setting more of its own direction, whilePalmSource is redirecting itself toward Linux and smartphones," Mr.Kort said.

Worldwide: Preliminary PDA Vendor Shipment Estimatesby Operating System, 1Q05

Notes: Totals do not include smartphones, such as theTreo 650 and BlackBerry 7100, but include wireless PDAs, such as the iPAQ6315 and Nokia 9300.
Columns may not add to totals shown because of rounding.

The Western European PDA market grew 84.3% to 1.3 millionunits in the first quarter of 2005, while PDA shipments in the alsototaled 1.3 million units, a 5% increase. PDA shipments in Asia/Pacificdeclined 2.7% with approximately 352,000 unit shipments. In Japan, PDAshipments declined 21.3% with nearly 80,000 units shipped in the first quarter."

Wireless E-Mail Applications Drive Worldwide PDA Shipments