Global shipments of handheld computers rose 18.4% to 17.7 mln in 2006, with Research in Motion showing strong growth, but Palm suffering a steep decline in sales and market share, Gartner reported. Windows platform grew by 38.8% to nearly 10 mln. Those shipments increased Microsoft’s market share to 56.1%, up from 47.9% in 2005. BlackBerry retained the top spot for PDA devices shipped, growing 10% to 3.5 mln for the year, but its market share slipped from 21.3% in 2005 to just a shade below 20% during 2006.