Handheld Computers & Accessories Industry Trends

Continuing Productivity Gains

Automation and redesign of manufacturing operations have increased industry productivity by more than 100 percent in the last five years. Industry employment fell 30 percent, while output rose 50 percent. Productivity gains have been a major factor in the steady fall of computer prices.

Off-Shore Design Facilities

Since many US manufacturers have established manufacturing operations offshore, the design of new products and technologies is occurring abroad as well. Hewlett-Packard has long had operations in Japan and recently established a presence in China. Foreign engineers receive much lower pay than their American counterparts.

More Industry-Standard Platforms

The server market has shifted from proprietary hardware and operating systems to standards-based architecture. These “open standards” allow open source operating systems and programming languages such as Linux and Java. The broad acceptance of open standards allows the hardware to more easily absorb new technical innovations.

Growth of Alliances

More manufacturers are developing alliances to offer a wider range of products and services. Dell and EMC announced a co-branding agreement to market joint products; IBM and Network Appliance Corp. announced a co-branding agreement in 2005; Lexmark allied with Dell and IBM to be their exclusive printer partner.