Even when money is tight, people will buy PDAs. A recent study from Cahners In-Stat reports that global shipments of PDAs are on the rise, although at a slower rate from 2000 figures because of a midyear downturn in sales last year.

Global PDA shipments rose 17% in 2001 over the previous year and are poised to grow another 18% this year, says In-Stat senior analyst Neil Strother. Key drivers in boosting sales, he says, include more robust devices, lower prices, more reliable applications, and more communications networks. Increased use of short-range wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, will also help increase sales.

Another significant influence on PDA sales is growing acceptance in the enterprise. Increasing numbers of businesses are considering PDA bulk purchases and distributing them to employees, much the way notebook computers are deployed, Strother says. "There is a growing recognition by American corporations that they have to have some sort of deployment strategy for PDAs," he says. Right now, many consumers purchase PDAs on their own, then bring them into the corporate environment by syncing them up to applications on the desktop. That will change, Strother adds, as companies realize PDAs are powerful and as useful as the desktops, notebook computers, and cell phones they already support.

Cahners projects PDAs will amass solid annual growth through 2005 in the double-digit range, peaking around 2004 at 30%, and then tapering off in 2005 as the market matures.

Did you have to buy your own PDA and take it into the office? Does your IT department support them? Tell us about it in the Listening Post discussion forum.