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AnchorDesk

AnchorDesk Staff
Wireless Access to Boost Mobile Device Sales

AnchorDesk Staff
ZDNet AnchorDesk
Wednesday, November 29, 2000
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Wireless schmwireless. Where's it all headed?

To a palmtop or handheld PC near you. Demand for wireless connections will boost sales of highly portable computers from 4.8 million last year to 16.7 million in 2004, according to a new Cahners In-Stat Group report.

New palmtop and handheld PCs will make wireless Internet access common and let users talk on them like wireless phones, In-Stat says. This added versatility, coupled with lower prices, will likely take market share from notebooks, In-Stat says.

Palmtops will be the most popular product by far, with sales growing an average of 28% annually through 2004, when 15.9 million units will be sold, In-Stat forecasts. Unit sales of handheld PCs -- larger devices featuring a clamshell design with a small keyboard -- will actually decline an average of 7.3% during that period, falling from 1.2 million in 1999 to 810,000.

"Many businesspeople purchased expensive notebook PCs in recent years in order to perform basic computing and communications functions that can now be done with less expensive, more portable, more practical palmtop and handheld PCs," says In-Stat analyst Robyn Bergeron.

Some new mobile devices include a phone module, such as Handspring's VisorPhone, which allows you to dial a phone number by simply touching a number in an electronic address book.

The VisorPhone works with all GSM carriers but not with popular U.S. CDMA carriers such as Sprint PCS and Verizon. A new wireless springboard module that supports CDMA is expected to be available in mid-2001.

In-Stat says mobile computing devices will become even more functional with expansion port add-ons like:
  • Keyboards
  • Digital cameras
  • Modems
  • GPS modules
  • Bar code scanners
  • Voice recorders
  • MP3 players
  • Additional memory
Palm continues to dominate the palmtop market, though its market share will erode from 72% in 1999 to 65% this year as Handspring and Windows CE palmtops make gains, In-Stat predicts.

Are you ready for this wireless world? Let me know in Talkback below.

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