World-wide handheld market shrinks

The worldwide handheld industry has seen its third straight quarter of declining shipments over a year ago. The trend is no doubt a factor of the exit of Sony and Toshiba from most of the international marketplace. PalmOne also showed a significant drop in shipments over last year. HP has increased their market share due to the extensive new lineup that has been introduced over the last few months, putting them at a market share of 30.6%. This shows HP catching up to palmOne in market share as palmOne's share has dropped to 34.7%. Relative newcomer Dell has jumped into the void left by Sony and Toshiba and is already showing a 8.9% market share in just a year.

Top 5 vendors:
Rank, Vendor, Q3 Shipments, Market Share

1 palmOne 736,481 34.7%

2 Hewlett-Packard 648,975 30.6%

3 Dell 188,200 8.9%

4 MiTAC 68,500 3.2%

5 Sony 44,192 2.1%

Other 436,644 20.6%

Total 2,122,992 100.0%

(via IDC)