Smartphones gain ground on PDAs

Sagem's launch of a new smartphone/PDA device has led to speculation that handset rather than PDA manufacturers will dominate the market.

French handset manufacturer Sagem's launch of a device, which combines a smartphone with a Microsoft Windows CE-based personal digital assistant (PDA), has prompted speculation that handset manufacturers will drive the development of such appliances rather than PDA manufacturers such as Palm.

The Sagem WA3050 supports the general packet radio service (GPRS) wireless data extension to GSM and is scheduled for release early next year. It is intended to compete with appliances such as the Symbian-driven Ericsson R380, which is already commercially available.

But other smartphone developers have delayed the launch of their products so they can incorporate and test GPRS capabilities. Such vendors include Mitsubishi with its Windows CE-based Trium Mondo, and Siemens, which has announced its intention to offer a similar handset next year.

Jake Saunders, European director at the Strategis Group consultancy, notes that Europe is taking a different tack to the US with its preference for standalone PDAs, however.

"Europe is less dominated by PDAs than in the US, but has a higher mobile penetration, which is why we are seeing European operators and vendors trying to PDA-enable wireless handsets," he said.

And there already seems to be demand among business for these combined devices - BT, for one, plans to supply secure versions of the R380 to some of its remote workforce.

The Wap factor
Consumer adoption of Wap-based services, on the other hand, has been poor. David Cleevely, managing director of telecoms consultancy Analysys, estimates that only 10 per cent of enabled phones in the UK are being used to access Wap sites.

This lack of interest has forced developers to try to improve the attractiveness of the handsets themselves to users. As a result, claims Saunders, there has been a "quantum leap" in the quality of PDA-enabled phones, with improvements having been made to processing capabilities, screen size and the speed of powering the appliance up and down.

Dennis Andrews, senior research manager at wireless consultancy EMC, said: "One noticeable point about the Sagem device is that while it is Wap-enabled, it also has a Microsoft browser, which will allow direct access to the web, so there could be no need for Wap access in the future."

And Microsoft is keen to exploit this foothold in the market still further by encouraging manufacturers to embed Windows CE into these devices to boost the popularity of the operating system.

Adam Anger, Microsoft's lead business manager in Europe, claims that the decision by UK mobile operators to subsidise their new handsets will lead to "significant volumes of these devices being sold".

Although mobile network operators elsewhere in Europe do not subsidise handset sales at the moment, Saunders believes this could change. "My gut reaction is that there will be a subsidisation of these handsets across all of Europe. The temptation to market them is so potent," he said. "You just can't be last in this race: you must be ahead of the market to succeed."

Key points:

  • Mobile phone developers will drive the manufacture of PDA-enabled phones in Europe
  • PDA phones may be the answer to improved mobile access to the internet.