Sales of Pocket PCs, and particularly Compaq's iPAQ handheld, surged in Western Europe in the first quarter of 2001 while Psion handhelds lost ground and Palm had mixed results

Sales of Pocket PCs, and particularly Compaq's iPAQ handheld, surged in Western Europe in the first quarter of 2001 while Psion handhelds lost ground and Palm had mixed results, according to a new study released Tuesday by U.K. market research firm Canalys. Palm remains the market leader in Europe and increased its unit sales, but its market share slipped in the first quarter of 2001, according to Canalys. The firm reports Palm's market share at 41.3 percent in the first quarter compared to 52.1 percent in the same quarter a year ago. As in the U.S., some of Palm's market share erosion came at the hands of Handspring, which reported 7.2 percent of the handheld market, compared to negligible market share the year before. However, Compaq emerged as the biggest competitor to Palm, according to the report. Compaq, which had been suffering from short supply of its handhelds, had just under 12 percent of the European market share for handhelds in the first quarter of the year, compared to only 2.2 percent in the same quarter the previous year. U.K.-based Psion, a long-time favorite in the European market, saw its market share slide by half, the study found. Psion had a 8.9 percent market share in the just-ended quarter compared to 19.1 percent a year ago. Overall unit sales more than doubled compared to the previous year, which meant that most vendors that lost market share still sold more units, according to the report. The exception was Psion, which sold 5 percent fewer units, according to Canalys.