You Say Potato, I Say Wireless Potato

Handheld sales are down sharply. Or they're up sharply. Or they're at all time record highs. One of those, anyway. As it turns out, it's all a question of language.

If you read the articles discussing the mobile tech market and its sales, sooner or later you're going to notice a rather odd disparity. One site says overall sales are down, another says they're up. One analyst says the market is stagnant, another says it's booming.

The reason for this disconnect is that nobody can quite agree on what constitutes the mobile tech market. Research firm IDC defines "handhelds" as being strictly non-cellular devices such as the Palm TX and Dell Axim X51v -- sometimes called "unconnected" devices, despite the presence of Wi-Fi. Anything with a cellular radio is a "smartphone." By this measurement, the handheld market is down, and smartphones are up. Seems simple, right?

But that's not the only point of view on the subject. Competing research firm Gartner views devices like the BlackBerries, most Pocket PC phones, and other similar devices as falling into a middle category, wireless handhelds. These, it argues, are handheld computers first, phones second. Internet, messaging, and connectivity is paramount. Those other devices with a one-handed form-factor and voice-centric stylings, such as the Treos, are true "smartphones."

While the lines which divide one category from another seem a bit fuzzy in Gartner's world, it's a model that would seem to be backed up by usage. While some are used as a phones, a great many of the ubiquitous BlackBerries are teamed with smaller and more simple "dumbphones" used exclusively for voice. This is less commonplace for other devices in the same general design, but it speaks to an underlying pattern where connectivity is king, and the devices involved are more terminal than telephone.

Now, we here at Brighthand subscribe to the latter model, for a number of reasons. It's the model which most closely resembles real use; it provides the best idea of what features and models are most popular; and it more precisely reflects what sort of attitude people have toward mobile devices.

All that being said, you can only take the categorization issue so far before the whole idea breaks down. Any device in this market, be it a "handheld," "smartphone," or "wireless handheld," is by definition built around a set of similar core functions. If a "smartphone" weren't smart, i.e. data driven, then it's just a phone. If a device doesn't have as much connectivity as it can, it's less desirable for purchase. For this reason, when judging the health of the mobile tech market, the best principle is to look at the whole picture.