This IDC study explores the latest developments in the Australian smart handheld device (SHD) market by providing a review of vendor shares, key product launches, and an updated five-year SHD shipment forecast from 2005 through 2009. It also provides discussion on ownership and usage of SHDs by Australian consumers and businesses, carriers' mobile data strategies and offerings, future outlook on hardware, operating systems, and wireless technologies driving the SHD and mobile data markets in Australia, as well as essential guidance for industry players looking to capitalise on SHD market opportunities.

"The imminent tide in the Australian SHD market has turned, when traditional handheld devices ? or PDAs ? eventually outshipped converged devices or smart phones for the first time last year," says Warren Chaisatien, IDC Australia's research manager for Mobile and Wireless Solutions. Chaisatien points out that the incorporation of and advancements in digital capture technology, displays, and multimedia functionality will drive device hardware sales, as will the rapid developments in wireless, including the greater availability of cellular 3G and wireless broadband, continued adoption of corporate WLAN and increased use of wireless devices to make phone calls in lieu of landlines.