Summing up the year, his views on the most significant events of the year presents Ed Hardy, editor in chief of a reputable site Brighthand.som. At the end of the year is quite natural to look back and think about everything that happened to us over the past twelve months. In this case, I am reminded of the most significant and important events for the entire year. In my view, these developments have made the greatest impact on the market of portable equipment.
The emergence of Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition and Pocket PC with VGA screens
One of the main news was the release of Microsoft's new operating system for handhelds and smartphones. Nevertheless, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition is not absorbed in itself is so revolutionary change, as many expect from it. At the same time, the mere presence of supporting screens with a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels (VGA), resulted in the appearance on the market a number of new models of handhelds. According to insider information, Microsoft initially did not plan to release this version of the system in general. Instead, the appearance of VGA support designed OS, which included a much more dramatic change. However, the release of the new OSes are all delayed and when it was moved already in 2005, licensees, Pocket PC, eager to launch PDAs with VGA screens, forced Microsoft to release a system with such "easy" upgrade, as just a support VGA.
Withdrawal from the market by Sony and Toshiba
Two companies that were among the central players in this market, abandoned it this year. Sony did it back in the early summer, Toshiba's turn came a few more months. None of the companies did not stop the production of CPC in full, all produced their models are now meant only for the Japanese market. While Sony and Toshiba have controlled about 10 percent of the handheld market, both companies were the kind of innovators, supporting the production of handheld devices at the proper level. For example, Toshiba has released the first Pocket PC with a VGA screen, but Sony put on their Palm OS devices support multimedia long before the competition. Now all this has become quite common for the manufacturers left the market. Sony decision turned out to be a very difficult test for a platform Palm, palmOne since it left no worthy competitors. People who opted for the handheld running Palm OS, and thus created no palmOne, it remains only to apply to the products of lesser-known companies such as the Tapwave. Care Toshiba was less sensitive to market Pocket PC, because it contains several large companies. Even for the largest of them - HP are serious opponents, such as Dell.
Waiting for PDA Palm OS Cobalt
One of the most momentous events of 2004 never happened: the light and does not add any new devices running Palm OS Cobalt. PalmSource company finished work on the first version of Cobalt in late last year. A couple months later, at the PalmSource developer conference demonstrated the capabilities of the latest version of the OS, including the ability to run applications written in the code for the ARM-core and excellent multimedia functionality. Palm users are eagerly awaited release of the first handheld computer or smartphone to a new Cobalt. And still waiting. Autumn PalmSource has released an updated version of the Cobalt, which includes some features not included in the original. However, devices operating under its control is still there. No reliable information, and when will be available at least one device with the new Cobalt on board, we can assume that this will happen next spring.
Sunset Palm OS
Over three quarters of the year Pocket PC sales surpassed Palm OS PDA. Among the causes of the incident can call a number of factors. Care Sony's market stimulated a lot of people to move into the rival camps, since the model PDA palmOne not provide them with all necessary facilities. Many who have until recently remained a supporter of Palm OS, desperate to wait for the first model in Palm OS Cobalt and gone for this reason. And, of course, Pocket PC PDAs have become more serious competitors than it might have seemed before.As mentioned above, the market already, there are several Pocket PC-class hi-end, equipped with a VGA display with a resolution two times higher than that of any PDA Palm OS. It is also much more Pocket PC models with built-in Wi-Fi, these machines have a higher frequency processors and multiple slots for memory cards. Palm devices, of course, also have their advantages, but not so much that they were decisive. One way or another, but sales of Palm OS devices have fallen significantly, while sales of Pocket PC is steadily increasing.
The success of BlackBerry in the U.S.
After years of longing in the shadow of Palm OS and Windows Mobile, the BlackBerry platform company Research in Motion as the rocket soared skyward. During the last quarter in the U.S. have been sold even more devices from BlackBerry, than a PDA iPAQ. In this regard, the agency Gartner in his research of the market assumes that next year, RIM can come out on top in sales of handheld computers. Company's competitors, paying attention to this trend, the increased supply on the market different models of smartphones, especially on a platform Pocket PC. Will RIM to hold the leaders of this category of devices - time will tell. Sources, Materials: