Compaq Computer Corp, which introduced its first handheld personal computer last year, will become the industry sales leader as early as this quarter, researcher Gartner Dataquest said.
Compaq's sales of handhelds will top US$200 million in the calendar quarter, beating Palm Inc's US$130 million to US$135 million for its quarter ended June 1, Gartner Dataquest said. Handspring Inc will take third place on expected sales of US$60 million to US$65 million for its fiscal quarter ending June 30.
Palm, once the dominant leader in handheld PCs, will see its market share slip to under 50 percent this quarter from about 70 percent a year ago, said Todd Kort, principal analyst of Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform Worldwide Group. Compaq's share may rise to 20 percent or more this quarter from zero a year ago.
"Palm is well behind the competition in implementing new wireless technologies, and this lack of innovation is a big contributor to its declining fortunes," Kort said.
Both Palm and Handspring have reported that sales will be about half of expectations. San Jose, California-based Gartner Dataquest used the recent estimates to calculate how many units the two companies are shipping.
Palm's shipments will fall sequentially as much as 70 percent to 600,000 to 650,000 units, Kort said. Handspring's shipments also will fall about 43 percent to 330,000 units this quarter, he said.
Handspring said this month that sales in its fourth quarter ending June 30 will be half of the company's prior forecast because of slowing sales. Palm said in May that shipping delays will cause fiscal fourth-quarter sales to lag its previously reduced forecast by half.
Compaq will ship 450,000 to 500,000 units this quarter, an increase of as much as 80 percent from the previous quarter, CFO Jeff Clarke said. Compaq ships fewer units than Palm yet generates more sales.
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