June 27, 2025
While the term PDA to describe a personal digital assistant device may be changing shape as the internet-connected devices provided to humans gain features and capabilities, the market for these types of devices is accelerating. This is because PDAs uniquely provide users with specifically designed devices that have been developed to fully address their use cases, applications and working environments. This allows users to have robust devices that are optimized for their jobs and contains functionality that consumer devices simply can’t match.
For example, PDAs can contain high-quality cameras which enable easy barcode scanning in low light conditions. They can also offer far faster scanning performance compared to standard smartphones, thereby enabling users to achieve greater efficiency and conduct their work faster, with less downtime and improved safety. Across warehousing, retail, restaurants and logistics-focused manufacturing environments PDA-type devices are increasingly utilized to aid people as they carry out their jobs. People can use PDAs to find and tag items, signal that they have completed tasks, submit orders and request further information to help them in their work. In addition, PDAs are typically far more resistant to physical damage and are able to operate in harsh environmental conditions.
With enterprises set to increase their spending on IoT at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% from now to 2030, according to research firm IoT Analytics[1], it’s clear that, although the march of AI and ever-increasing automation appears to preclude humans from the IoT business chain, the reality is very different. Humans are still essential enablers of enterprise tasks and have specific value to add in customer-facing situations. They just need better tools to help them improve their work.
Technical flexibility to meet exact enterprise needs
Serving these users with optimized PDAs is where an original device manufacturer (ODM) can come in and design and create PDAs for enterprises of all types. ODMs enable PDAs to be created from the design stage for specific use cases. A PDA can be developed to enable all the apps a company needs, it can be designed to be cost-optimized and compliant with regulations and, finally, it can be manufactured by the ODM with no friction to the OEM or end user company.
If workers are in a retail store, a shopper may be looking to try an item in a specific size or color. A worker with an IoT-connected PDA can rapidly check stock, pricing and other factors and help smoothly take the buyer through the process from selecting goods to payment. Another category is parcel delivery firms which need other PDA functions such as robustness, ubiquitous connectivity and secure two-way communication regarding how packages should be delivered. Both of these use cases can readily be accommodated in ODM-created PDAs.
Multiple use cases in a single terminal
The PDA here is used to provide information, keep lone workers safe, enable accurate billing for services provided and assist with maintaining optimized workflow for enterprises. One technology widening the applicability of PDA-type devices is cellular connectivity. Analyst firm Berg Insights says it expects this technology to become a very popular item for point-of-sale terminals, with cellular already being incorporated in 54% of POS terminals shipped in 2024[2].
The firm says that cellular technology is starting to dominate because it can support users that do not have access to localized technologies such as Wi-Fi. It adds that the installed base of cellular POS terminals reached 164.8 million in 2024 and forecasts a CAGR of 8.6% between 2024 and 2028, resulting in a total of 229.3 million cellular POS terminals at the end of the forecast period. In addition, the firm sees technologies such as near-field communications (NFC) becoming more widely adopted.
NFC-ready POS terminals will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% from 284.8 million units in 2024 to 380.0 million units in 2028. As a result, more than 96% of the world’s POS terminals will be NFC-ready in 2028, up from 89% in 2024.
From this, it’s clear to see that enterprises are likely to deploy multiple connectivity technologies in their PDAs as they seek to optimize the functionality they provide to their users. For enterprises of all types there is therefore a growing need to create and specify PDAs that have been designed to meet the exact needs of their enterprises. Simply selecting iPads or other commercial tablets is unlikely to enable companies to optimize effectively.
Devices developed for your needs
By accessing the ODM’s capabilities, enterprises and their OEM suppliers can radically accelerate the PDA development process and get highly specific, optimally designed devices into users’ hands. As a US-headquartered ODM, Ikotek has been helping the world’s OEMs and enterprises design, develop, manufacture and distribute the PDAs their users need. There’s no requirement to develop your own device design, application or manufacturing capabilities and market entry is enabled in compliant, frictionless and optimized ways. Equally, if there are functions you’ve already created, such as the app or back-end software, an ODM can accommodate those into a cohesive PDA proposition.
Contact Ikotek now to find out more about how we can design PDAs that meet your current and future needs.
[1] https://iot-analytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/INSIGHTS-RELEASE-State-of-enterprise-IoT-in-2025.pdf
[2] https://www.berginsight.com/the-installed-base-of-cellular-pos-terminals-to-reach-229-million-in-2028
