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Sony Exits US Handheld Market
10999 writes "Today Brighthand reports that Sony will no longer develop and sell Clie handheld models to the United States market.
Most certainly that means no more Clies for Europe, too."
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I chose my T665C over Palm branded hardware for a reason: So much more for the cash.
- Brilliant Color Screen
- MP3 Audio capabilities (via separate chip, which saves lots of power)
- Sound
- Small Size, light
- Great construction (alloy back)
- Pretty good package of software around it.
I've been very happy with it.
And shockingly, the nearest Palm equivilant didn't have anywhere near those specs. For more money, less of a product.
I'll miss the sony's in the market. Though I think Palm OS has caught up a bit.
That's why i stopped buying sony stuff that has there propertary memory stick.It is overpriced and infirior.Sony makes good stuff but memory stick and other unneccesary propertary stuff makes me not wanna get there products.
So, what is my SonyEricsson P900, chopped liver? Sure it's not a dedicated handheld, but I didn't want one. It does IR, Bluetooth, USB, Calendar, doesn't run Windows, etc.
Exiting the market, my ass! They're just going to focus on PDA/Phone unified devices.
-l
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The number of non-windows-based devices Sony has out on the market running different OSes is quite big, especially considering the user base. Ignoring the number of PS2's, look at Sony/Ericsson branded mobile phones. Now, add the upcoming PSP. There's no reason to own a "PDA" when either of these devices will be able to run circles around PalmOS devices.
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The Clie' offered more power and features than a comparable Palm, though. Which is why I bought my T615C some time back. The same feature set in a Palm would have cost me another $50-$100. I think their designs started getting kinda funky and maybe turned off some people.
From Palminfocenter's market share list
Worldwide Handheld Marketshare 2003
1. palmOne 40%
2. HP 22%
3. Sony 14%
4. Dell 6%
5. Toshiba 3%
6. All Others 15%
Best Selling SKUs (Oct - Dec 2003 US Retail)
Rank Model % of Total
1. palmOne Tungsten E 19%
2. Sony Clie SJ22 13%
3. palmOne Zire 21 10%
4. palmOne Zire 71 7%
5. HP iPaq 1945 (PPC) 6%
6. palmOne Zire 6%
7. Sony Clie TJ25 6%
8. palmOne Tungsten T3 4%
9. HP iPaq 2215 (PPC) 4%
10. palmOne Zire 21 Limited Ed Bundle 3%
It's not likely they were having Problems selling them, they were the number 2 PalmOS Based PDA seller, and The Number 3 Overall. They also had the number 2 and 7 best selling PDA.
Maybe they were expecting to sell more than this, or maybe most of those sales are outside the US.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
That said, they weren't always the easiest company to work with. Often, the new models would come out so fast that we couldn't keep track of them, and a customer tech support email would be our first indication that something new was available. They had a tendency to keep certain APIs (like their camera API) private, and even their public APIs might be released to developers months after devices had shipped. I don't think a simulator for the TH55 was ever released.
But despite the problems, I'm sorry to see them go. Sony injected an energy into the Palm handheld market that I don't think can be matched by the other manufacturers.
--Stuart
If you convert the price in Yen to USD, many of these products would not sell in the US.
Japanese people are willing to pay a premium for small/lightweight products. Americans are not as willing. Throughout all of Asia/Pacific, people use a combination of mass transit and walking. When I visited Hong Kong, my colleagues were astounded at the 40lb. bag I carried -- a big IBM Thinkpad and every accessory that I might possibly need. Imagine a computer room in a bag. It was somewhat inconvenient to take this heavy computer bag in and out of cabs and the subway, but I did it. Months later, the same people visited me in the US. I said, "Now I can show you why my computer bag is not so crazy." We walked out of my office, down a flight of stairs, and 50 feet to my car, where I popped the trunk and dropped the bag right in. Size and weight of the computer are meaningless because I seldom carry it for more than 2 minutes at a time.
I won't attempt to speak for everyone, but I want gizmos with full features, durability, and low price. Size and weight are secondary. If I lived in Asia, my priorities would be different.
I saw this story on Brighthand this morning and was about to submit it to slashdot, but I decided to check my facts first.
BargainPDA says "Sony has informed us that they will not release any new Clie PDAs this year in the US."
They had a conference call with Sony last week, and Sony made is abundantly clear that this is just a regrouping, they will NOT be exiting the market.
You can probably expect for Sony's next US model to be released with a bang. 'After an x-month hiatus, Sony has decided to revolutionize the PDA landscape again!' or something.
But again! SONY IS NOT EXITING THE MARKET! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! MOVE ALONG!
If this doesn't get me some karma, nothing will :-\
I live in Tokyo (after living in the US) and I'll tell you, it's a bitch to try to return/exchange anything. Most places flatly turn you down. Warranties are similar to the US on paper but they're stricter about not fixing something that could be blamed on the slightest possibility of wear and tear. But if it is actually a manufacturers defect, generally the warranty service is better than in the US.
I own a TJ-37, and it has been one the most useful items I've had for travel. An affordable device with a camera good enough to take pictures to post on the web and built-in wifi is a really amazing accomplishment. Plus with a decent sized memory stick the device doubles as an MP3 player as well.
I for one am sorry to see Sony exit the handheld market.
Overrated Moderation: This posts sucks... because.
Good try but the PSP specs called for an OLED - the Clies had no plan to move to OLED any time soon.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
> Now, who is gonna come up with this beauty ?
Well, not you.
The Zaurus SL-6000 isn't just the *closest* thing, it IS the thing. It has all the hardware anyone could want.
The USB host means you can attach any USB keyboard. (On the SL-6000W, you can attach any Bluetooth keyboard.)
The CFXGA card gives TV out, although the framerate is too slow.
The screen resolution is phenomenal! 640x480 on a 4" diagonal, plus it's transflective, so viewable under the widest range of conditions.
So what is lacking? The PIM applications? I don't think so. You buy piece-of-shit Windows machines without any PIMS or even a decent goddamned operating system. No, it's not the PIMs. Slashdot whiners would find something to complain about if it had PIMs: It's too rectangular, it exists at all, it costs epsilon too much, no matter how little it costs! Waah!