The influx of new PocketPC 2002-based devices did not boost shipments of handhelds in Europe for the first quarter of 2002. Handheld devices, including converged wireless devices, declined by 25.7 percent, according to research firm IDC. Just over 593,000 units were shipped during 1Q02 against 800,000 during the same quarter last year.

IDC contributed the decline to complicated GPRS billing structures, issues over roaming agreements, and the cost of converged devices. 

Commenting on the data, Andy Brown, research manager for Mobile Computing at IDC, said, "The availability for PocketPC 2002 devices from Compaq and HP helped Microsoft take 39 percent of the handheld market operating system share. Nevertheless, Palm still managed to maintain large volumes through a combination of retail promotions, strategic price cuts, and new product introductions and retained a dominant 47 percent share."

Only two vendors showed positive growth, Hewlett Packard (4.4 percent) and Compaq (44.9 percent).

Vendor Highlights for 1Q02

• Palm recorded a decline of 37 percent from the 1Q01. The company shipped over 215,000 units, due to strong sales of m515 and m130 devices.
• Compaq benefited from a combination of new PocketPC 2002 sales of the 3800 iPAQ and final sales of older PocketPC devices. The company boosted its revenue by 44.9 percent. 
• Casio continued to benefit from large shipments of low-end devices, with healthy volumes shipped to Germany and the U.K. 
• Nokia showed a decline of 14 percent over last year. However, its new devices based on the Symbian OS should help to drive shipments by the end of the year. 
• Handspring reported strong sales of its Treo converged handheld device. Deals with Telia in Sweden and Orange in Switzerland helped to boost sales. 
• HP increased its market share for the first quarter from 4.3 percent in 2001 to 6 percent in 2002. HP benefited from a higher end product mix in terms of revenue.

For more information: http://www.idc.com