[Design] Smartphone / handheld marketshare data from IDC

[Selva]

".....Palm's operating system is the largest player in the field. The OS is used by more than 57 percent of the handheld users worldwide. As of December 2002, more than 25 million Palm Powered devices have been sold, over 250,000 developers have created more than 15,000 applications.

PalmSource's market share has been holding the line, with recent reports showing Palm powered devices gaining ground in France (rising from 52 percent to 64 percent), and the U.K. (from 42 percent to 50 percent). The rise is being attributed to PalmSource licensees releasing new products equipped with Palm OS 5, the latest version of the Palm operating system.

In the smartphone division, Palm's OS held an 89 percent share in the US during the third quarter of 2002. Analyst firm IDC's stats suggest that three of the top six worldwide smart phone vendors' products were Palm Powered -- Handspring and Treo 300; Kyocera's 5135 Palm Powered flip-phone; and Samsung with its i330 smart phone. Other major players using Palm's smart phone include Alphasmart, with its Dana device and the Sony Clie NX 70v. ..."

http://www.internetnews.com/wireless/article.php/2100531

# Looks to me like if Chandler is to target smartphone market
in the future, then Palm phones should be the first to
be addressed and Symbian should be second since they have
a slight lead over Palm in EU as I recall from a previous
report.

IMO, addressing other smartphone platforms would not be
worth the effort at this point. 

JMO,
Selva