In the first half of the year, handheld shipments in Asia-Pacific fell 19 percent--both year-on-year and sequentially--to 1.06 million units, said IDC.
Chinese vendors, specifically Hi-Tech Wealth, Minren and Legend, posted significant year-on-year declines. This contributed to the 23 percent contraction in China's handheld market, despite price cuts introduced by some vendors.
Nonetheless, the sheer size of the Chinese market kept the three companies in dominant positions, said Manny Lopez, IDC Asia-Pacific analyst for Personal Systems.
Hi-Tech Wealth was the largest handheld provider in Asia-Pacific with a market share of 23 percent, followed by Palm and Minren. Hewlett-Packard held the fourth position, while Legend was in fifth place.
"The new HP, which includes the iPaq line, has leapt into the fourth spot. The iPaq performed well despite difficult economic times, and saw noticeable commercial deployments in countries such as Korea," said Lopez.
Corporate purchases, meanwhile, could not lift Korea from the handheld slump. Demand in the country shrank 28 percent in the first half, as vendors shifted their focus to Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) with telephony features.
Among emerging markets in Asia, Lopez noted that demand in India is expected to be driven by the healthcare and insurance industries.
"We also expect seasonal improvement in the second half of year across Asia-Pacific as new devices are slated for release," he added.
These statistics excluded the Japan market as well as PDAs with telephony features.
