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Handheld device shipments continue to plummet according to research released yesterday by both IDC and Gartner Inc's Dataquest unit.

IDC's figure of 449,740 PDA shipments to Western Europe compares relatively closely with Dataquest's estimate of 462,572 units, down 21% and 18% respectively on the same period in 2001.

A combination of slow corporate sales, uncertainty over the promised performance gains from the Intel XScale processors in the latest Microsoft Pocket PC-based devices, and consumers diverted by the soccer World Cup were cited among reasons for the fall-off. New form factors such as Nokia Corp's 7650 and O2's XDA did little to boost enthusiasm for the devices.

Hewlett-Packard Co took the largest share of shipments in both IDC's and Dataquest's reckoning - around 32% - benefiting from the popularity of the recently acquired iPaq range from Compaq. Palm's share of shipments was estimated at 28% by IDC and 29% by Dataquest. Nokia occupied a distant third place on the chart with both companies estimating a 12% share of shipments.

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