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Linux to take 10% of PDA biz by 2003

Market to grow 30-44% over next two years, predicts LCD maker

The PDA market will rebound next year with a 30 per cent increase in device shipments, one of the world's largest handheld display panel suppliers has claimed. But Palm is going to have its work cut out maintaining its operating system's lead over PocketPC.

According to Jocob Lin, general manager of Taiwanese LCD maker Picvue Electronics, some 16.04 million PDAs will be shipped next year, well up on the 12.34 million that will have shipped by the end of 2001. Lin, interviewed by DigiTimes, believes 2003's shipments will total 23.13 million units, an increase of 44 per cent on 2002's total.

That's good news for Palm, but it won't be happy to hear that by then it will have lost its lead to Microsoft. Lin reckons that the Palm OS' share of the market will fall to 43.6 per cent next year, while PocketPC's will grow to 38.8 per cent. By the end of 2003, the PocketPC will be on 42.4 per cent and Palm OS on 38.7 per cent, he predicted.

However, the rising star of the PDA world will Linux, which Lin expects will have carved out ten per cent of the market by the end of 2003 from effectively zero today. ®

Related Link

DigiTimes: Picvue: PDA shipments will enjoy 30-40 per cent growth in the next two years

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