PDA Functionality Key to Growth

With the lackluster year of 2002 now out of the way, the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) market is poised for growth this year as manufacturers
adjust their strategies to focus on expanding the market.

Inset is analyst who wrote the report, Cindy Wolf.

According to high-tech market research firm, In-Stat/MDR, while the weak global economy, continuing erosion of US consumer confidence, and lack of corporate IT spending were the major contributors to lower growth in 2002, lower unit prices, improved operating systems, and a wave of multimedia and wireless functionality being integrated into PDAs will spark growth this year.

PDAs are forecasted to have a healthy 18.3% Compound Annual
Growth Rate (CAGR) over the 2002-2007 period, with the highest
growth rate anticipated for 2003. "Future growth will rely on
convincing consumers that PDAs can be more than just PC
peripherals," says Cindy Wolf, an Analyst with In-Stat/MDR.
"To that end, strategies for vendors and component
manufacturers are adjusting." There are now three tiers of
products: low-end, middle-range, and high-end devices and In-
Stat/MDR expects most manufacturers to offer a range of devices
in all three categories this year. Devices are clearly moving
beyond the basic applications of Personal Information
Management (PIM). An increase in multimedia functionality is
expected this year, as other manufacturers move into this
market to compete more directly with Sony. Manufacturers also
appear to be decreasing their margins on devices in order offer
products that will attract new users to the market.

In-Stat/MDR also found that:

- The ability to access the Internet from a PDA is being
increasingly integrated into these devices. About 15% of
PDAs offered this functionality in 2002, and this
percentage is expected to grow to 75% by 2007.

- Processors are continuing their trend of integration and
more competitors are expected to vie for a piece of the
market. A variety of products offering on-chip memory,
improved power consumption and support for greater
functionality will become available.

- The standard for memory slots for PDAs is continuing its
trend toward Secure Digital (SD). In addition, flash
memory card densities are reaching new, higher
capacities, which will make multimedia and wireless
functionality more useful.

- Wireless and communications functionalities will increase
this year on PDAs, especially on high-end devices. Users
will have a choice of 802.11 and Bluetooth models for a
variety of usage models, and a number of new devices will
offer communications capability to help users reduce the
number of devices that they need to carry.

The report, "Multimedia and Wireless Functionality: Changing
the Way Consumers Perceive PDAs" (#IN030575ID), compiles
research and analyses on the worldwide PDA market and provides
a forecast of unit shipments and revenues from 2002 to 2007.
Processor market shares and revenue and PDA unit shipment
market shares, along with regional segmentation, are also
depicted. The report provides profiles of major vendors and
their most recent products, and discusses market trends,
opportunities and hurdles.

This Press Release Sponsored by AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES

TODAY'S PRESS RELEASES

Lucent Technologies and Novatel Wireless unveiled the Merlin U530™ Wireless PC Card Modem, a high-speed data device designed to enable mobile users to access the Internet and corporate networks over third-generation (3G) Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks.

Alcatel Shanghai Bell has conducted the first mobile voice, data and video communications in the open in China. These communications, the first in China outside a laboratory environment were conducted today on a live, end-to-end UMTS system installed at Alcatel Shanghai Bell's 3G Reality Centre.

3 UK revealed that life is to become far easier for the movie fan with the announcement of an agreement with film content specialists MyMovies to deliver the very latest movie information to 3's customers, enabling them to find out about the films playing at their local multiplex.

he study found that 32% of adults aged 15-34 years had purchased a ring-tone in the last three months, 21% had purchased logos and 20% had purchased SMS alerts. Whilst these figures are encouraging, take-up of services that are higher revenue generating for network operators was much lower with just 9% of 15-34 year olds having used e-mail to their mobile phone and 7% having played an SMS or WAP game.

Marty Singer, PCTEL Chairman and CEO said "In effect, cellular carriers do not have to wait for 3G - or build expensive 3G networks - to realize significantly increased revenues from mobile data services."

With the lackluster year of 2002 now out of the way, the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) market is poised for growth this year as manufacturers adjust their strategies to focus on expanding the market.

he rollout of Digital Bridges' games to the rapidly growing Vodafone live! customer base includes server-based titles like Wireless Pets, Steve Jackson's Sorcery, and Star TrekÒ: First Duty; as well as popular downloadable J2ME titles like Denki Blocks!, EA SPORTSÔ Tiger Woods PGA TOURÒ Golf, and XS Snowboarding.

Sewon has placed orders for 150,000 wireless modules for delivery during the first quarter of 2003. The modules will be integrated into Sewon's SG-1200 range of mobile telephones, which was launched in November 2002 and is mainly sold in China.