Market Overview

Mobile Computing

Mobile computing, primarily laptop, notebook, tablet, and handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) devices. This market encompasses both consumer and professional users, and is seeing huge investments by hardware and chip manufacturers and mobile software vendors. From Dell’s new PDA to “ultra mobile PCs” like Microsoft’s Origami, the array of portable computing products continues to widen every year, as costs for even the most sophisticated mobile computing products steadily decline. As a result of strong interest in professional circles and a shot in the arm from RIM, shipments of portable computers are today back on the rise, with Q405 PDA units increasing by 7.3 percent compared with 4Q04, to 4.4 million units. Within this market, nearly all manufacturers have announced plans to incorporate GPS as a standard feature; in fact, HP recently shipped the GPS-capable iPaq hw5600, which is enjoying brisk sales.