Analysts Fight Over PDA/Smartphone Definition

from the it-is----it-isn't!! dept

Earlier this month we pointed out that the dividing line between PDAs and smartphones made about as much sense as counting computers with modems or NICs as a separate market as computers without any kind of connectivity. This was a result of an IDC study saying that the PDA market was shrinking and a Canalys study saying the smartphone market was growing. As if to help prove the point for us, Gartner now says that the PDA market is growing. Why the difference? It's all in the definitions -- and none of them seem to be able to agree on anything. Gartner says that most voice-enabled Blackberries (a rapidly growing market) are really more data devices than phones, and thus, are PDAs. IDC disagrees, assuming that any cellular voice capability qualifies the device as a smartphone. All of this gets even more ridiculous when you start to think about where all of this is headed. How are they going to define a device with WiFi connectivity and some VoIP softphone? Is that a PDA or a phone? It should be pretty clear by now that these are converging devices, and claiming that one is winning over the other is missing the point.

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