PDA Sales in the Business Environment: Market Drivers and Opportunities

SUMMARY

The PDA market has languished in recent years after the rapid growth experienced in the latter 1990s and into 2000. This markets' hopes rested on business users. While, historically, PDAs were brought in through companies' back doors by end-users, it was anticipated that businesses would start purchasing these devices for their employees. But, corporate purchasing does not seem to have happened to any significant degree and, in fact, according to this research, what little inventory was shipping through businesses seems to have abruptly decelerated. As a result, this most recent survey of In-Stat/MDR's panel indicates that PDA manufacturers have to focus their selling back on the end-user. This report relates which features business users are looking for on new devices (including demand for wireless functionality such as 802.11, wireless WAN and Bluetooth, and multimedia functionality), the brands they are considering purchasing, how much they are willing to spend for them, the channels they plan to go through to purchase these devices, and the best marketing media for vendors to use to reach these people. It also shows current and planned users' perceptions of some of the key brands (Palm, Handspring, HP, Casio and Sony) on criteria such as highest quality and most feature-rich products.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• About the Panel
• Methodology For Collecting Panel Data
• Introduction
  • PDAs Serve Many Needs
  • Features Drive PDA Sales in the Business Market
  • Size and Hard Drive are Very Important
  • Other Features of Interest....
  • Wireless Capabilities are Used on a Limited Basis Today
  • But this Functionality is Growing in Importance
  • Business Users Plan to Spend More on Their Next PDA Purchase
  • Typical Replacement Cycle is Two to Three Years
  • Many Panelists are On the Market for a New PDA Today
  • Palm Boasts the Largest Installed Base of PDAs
  • ...But HP is Moving Up Fast and Sony and Dell are Companies to Watch
  • Hands-down, Palm has the Best Known Brand
  • And is Viewed as Being the Most Successful
  • It is also Perceived as Offering a Wide Range of PDAs
  • Palm is also Considered as Offering the Highest Quality PDAs
  • But HP is Viewed as Offering the Most Feature-Rich Products
  • Handspring is Seen as Leading Innovator
  • Casio is Viewed as Providing Commodity Products
  • PDA Channels Not Changing as Expected
  • Ads are Still the Best Way to Reach Prospects
• Conclusions

List of Figures

• Figure 1. PDAs Serve Many Needs
• Figure 2. Features Drive PDA Sales in the Business Market
• Figure 3. Size and Hard Drive Features are Very Important
• Figure 4. Other Features of Interest...
• Figure 5. Wireless Capabilities are Used on a Limited Basis Today
• Figure 6. But this Functionality is Growing in Importance
• Figure 7. Business Users Plan to Spend More on Their Next PDA Purchase
• Figure 8. Typical Replacement Cycle is Two to Three Years
• Figure 9. Many Panelists are On the Market for a New PDA Today
• Figure 10. Palm Boasts the Largest Installed Base of PDAs
• Figure 11. ...But HP is Moving Up Fast and Sony and Dell are Companies toWatch
• Figure 12. Hands-down, Palm has the Best Known Brand
• Figure 13. And is Viewed as Being the Most Successful
• Figure 14. It is also Perceived as Offering a Wide Range of PDAs
• Figure 15. Palm is also Considered as Offering the Highest Quality PDAs
• Figure 16. But HP is Viewed as Offering the Most Feature-Rich Products
• Figure 17. Handspring is Seen as Leading Innovator
• Figure 18. Casio is Viewed as Providing Commodity Products
• Figure 19. PDA Channels Not Changing as Expected
• Figure 20. Ads are Still the Best Way to Reach Prospects