Microsoft fails to squash BlackBerry

RIM was the number one PDA vendor based on worldwide shipments in 2005

Research In Motion enjoyed stellar sales of its BlackBerry devices in 2005 despite the combination of legal patent woes and Microsoft's attempt to muscle in on its push email territory.

Analyst firm Gartner identified RIM as the number one PDA vendor based on worldwide shipments in 2005 with 21.4 per cent of the market. BlackBerry shipments in 2005 increased 47 per cent from 2004.

These results do not include an estimated 858,000 BlackBerry smartphones shipped in 2005, which Gartner classifies separately because of their voice-centric design.

Overall global shipments of data-centric PDAs totalled a record 14.9 million units in 2005, a 19 per cent increase from 2004, according to new research from Gartner. The 2005 results pipped the previous record of 13.2 million PDAs shipped worldwide in 2001.

"RIM does not appear to be losing much momentum despite its legal problems and the threat of an injunction," said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group.

"Generally, BlackBerry users are staying put because of the high cost of switching, lack of suitable alternative devices, and the low probability of the BlackBerry service being shut down."

Coming in at number two for the whole year, Palm shipped 2.77 million PDAs in 2005, down 25 per cent from 2004. These results exclude Palm's Treo smartphone shipments of 1.95 million units in 2005.

For the final quarter of 2005 Palm regained the PDA market lead at 1.04 million units shipped, reflecting the traditionally strong consumer PDA sales associated with the holiday season.

"Consumer sales in the fourth quarter enabled Palm to surpass RIM and HP, but we expect RIM to recapture the lead in the first quarter of 2006 as consumer PDA purchases subside," said Kort.

"Palm's PDA sales are being cannibalised by its Treo smartphones, which are expected to surpass Palm's PDA shipments in 2006."

Microsoft's Windows CE was identified as the number one PDA operating system in 2005. Some 7.05 million PDAs were loaded with the software, up 33 per cent from 2004 shipments of 5.28 million. Palm OS PDA shipments declined 34 per cent to 2.96 million units in 2005.

Gartner defines a PDA as a data-centric handheld computer weighing less than 450g and primarily designed for use with both hands.

Following this definition the analyst firm's totals do not include smartphones, such as the Treo 650 and BlackBerry 7100, but include wireless PDAs, such as the iPaq 65xx and BlackBerry 8700.