BlackBerry in Construction
According to research from analyst firm Gartner Inc., www.gartner.com, Stamford, Conn., worldwide shipments of PDA (personal digital assistants) totaled 3.7 million in the second quarter of 2006. This shows growth of 2.7% from the year ago period and the highest PDA shipment total on record during this time frame.
“The ongoing integration of WAN technology into PDAs, and the marketing push of these devices by wireless operators has produced most of the growth compared to one year ago,” says Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group.
“The average selling price of PDAs fell by 6% from one year ago to $373, mostly due to aging product lines, the increasing impact of wireless operator subsidies and relatively few new PDAs being launched thus far in 2006,” adds. Kort. “As a result, worldwide PDA end-user revenue fell by 4.1% from one year ago to $1.38 billion in the second quarter of 2006.”
Research In Motion (RIM), www.rim.net, Waterloo, Ont., with its BlackBerry device, remained atop the pack amongst manufacturers. Despite a shipment decline of 1.1%, RIM accounted for 22.5% of worldwide PDA shipments during the second quarter, according to Gartner. The firm does note 467,000 units were excluded from the analysis because the BlackBerry 71xx models are classified as smartphones.
PDAs continue to make a large impact on construction with more professionals in the industry using these devices for varying tasks on a job. Looking to capitalize on this trend, software providers continue to come to market with applications designed to run on these devices.
For example, e-Builder, www.databasics.com, Cleveland, Ohio, announced HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) contractor Alpine Mechanical Services, www.alpinems.com, Doylestown, Pa., is running enterprise technology from the company out in the field via BlackBerry devices.
Using the technology from the company to manage dispatching, service management, and accounting, it was looking for the system to provide direct access of daily schedules and equipment data via BlackBerry devices. Already tapping functionality that allowed users to distribute reports via fax or email, Alpine began working with Data Basics, to modify the software in order to format the output to display on BlackBerry devices in use by its field technicians.
There is no doubt the construction industry has contributed to the growth of BlackBerry shipments in the past year. PDA devices as a whole have taken more of a hold in the construction market as contractors continue to adopt leading-edge IT (information technology) applications that can be deployed on these devices.