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Sharp Plans To Pull Zaurus From U.S. Market
Eugenia writes "Facing stiff competition and low sales, a Sharp representative has informed InfoSyncWorld that the company has decided to fully withdraw its Zaurus SL line of Linux-based handhelds from the U.S. market and focus on its home market in Japan. The recent similar withdraws of Sony and Toshiba pretty much left PalmOne and RIM fighting alone HP and Dell in a saturated PDA market inundated with U.S. brands. People don't seem to be willing to pay a premium for gadgets and alternative systems, and primarily in the corporate market customers prefer to buy from the same suppliers as for their corporate hardware."
I don't know ANYONE who uses a pda... personally I don't think they're all that useful.
I'd have bought a Zarus PDA if I had been able to find one that had the features I was looking for: a greyscale screen, low weight, no backlight, and a long battery life. Oh yes, and one that didn't cost $400+.
Instead, I got a $99 Palm Zire 21. Meets my needs exactly.
"They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
...it had the features of the $300 model and cost $75.
I just don't feel like buying an old model or paying $300.
I'd rather buy a remanufactured laptop for $300.
I reset my case.
I see no need for a PDA that runs linux on it.But you see a reason for a PDA to run Windows? If they run Windows, why not Linux?
why bother with a big clunky PDA when i can now get the same functionality in my cellphone ?
the PDA has now been surpassed,the clever manufacturers discovered that there is no real need for it anymore, need something bigger than a cellphone, then a tablet PC should fit the bill
iam sorry to see PDA's go but thats progress for you
It seem to be a trend... Japan get all the cool toys while US (and Canada) markets show 'not enough demand'.... don't we like cool toys? Seen it happen with PDAs, Minidisc players (only some models are sold here, the coolest ones are Japan only), Cellphones...
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To date, I only have known two people who own PDAs - my boss and one of my friends. I don't even see many people at my unversity who own them - but I know a bundle who are married to their laptops. If they can't sell a gadget to college students, good luck selling it to anyone at all. My money is on pda/cellphone combos and blackberries.
1) Build a product
2) Make it run Linux
3) ??
4) Profit!!
I don't understand how it failed.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
...works better.
No batteries. Inexpensive. High resolution. Withstands 6 foot drops and coffee spills. Easy to see. Integrated stylus drawing surface. No messing around with handwriting recognition that only works 90% of the time. No pokey built in keyboard. No need for an external keyboard. Tabable pages. Can use any stylus: ball point, gel, or graphite.
Paper pad cost: 75 cents
PDA cost: $50 to $400 plus $2.25 for batteries.
I reset my case.
Too bad, the Zaurus was a great development platform, for stuff like inventory tracking, or mobile "cash registers" with bar code reader and credit card swiper, and stuff like that. Expensive, yes, but very flexible due to the rich and creamy Linux+Java center.
:-(
I hope it is still possible to import them with english OS.
Definitely a niche product but not sure what to replace it with that isn't mostly closed-source.
If only Apple made an OS X tablet or handheld.
Does this mean that (American) Dell and HP have beaten Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba (Japanese) in selling tiny consumer electronics devices in the US? That market 0wn3rship is being fought out by viciously innovating American competitors? Where are the "American Engineering Extinction" pundits while the new paradigm firmly assumes an American twang?
--
make install -not war
I have had a PDA since 6th grade, the Palm m100. I now have the Palm Tungsten T2. I keep everything in it. My entire schedual and everything I have to do is on it, I sometimes take some quick notes, I have a dictionary and a few games to pass the time. I would be really disorganized without it. I too am a big Linux advocate, all I use is Linux. I would of gotten the Zaurus if it wasnt so exspensive and I do think it should be a bit cheaper. The thing I really like about it is all the features it has, and how many Linux programs (gaim xine etc) have been ported to Zaurus. Its too bad Sharp didnt push it more, next PDA I was thinking of getting it.
PDA's are just another gadget that gets outdated after a year. Maybe I'm growing old/less competetive, but I don't want to buy these new thingies all the time.
"How long will it last?" is the first question I ask myself, and the faster it will be outdated, the less money I'm willing to spend on it. My previous computer was a dual PII, it cost me a fortune but that money is gone. My last PC was a cheap AMD homemade, it works fine and with the money I saved I bought a telescope. I've always wanted one, and a telescope can last much longer than a PC that loses it's value instantly.
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
For you maybe. I cannot read my own handwriting 80% of the time. If electronics could get close that would help. And since I can see instantly that it gets it wrong I could correct the mistake then when I still knew what I meant to write. Course I don't trust hand writing recognition to understand my scratching.
I tried a paper organizer once, ended up knowing that something once started between 9:00 and 10:30. Maybe, unless I crossed it out, hard to tell. I wasn't even sure where, 1.5 hours is a long time to spend wondering the halls, examining each conference room to see if someone realized I was wondering if this was the right one, knew I should be there, and told me to join.
Eventually my school tested me. They found that at best I can write like a second grader. That is at best. Don't tell me to practice, that is about as useful as telling someone in a wheelchair to walk. I physically cannot do better.
Which is of course, why SUV sales are at an all time high, and people are moving into $300,000 homes in suburbia in high quantities.
I am a linux nut and I see no need for a PDA that runs linux on it.
I am a Linux nut and see no reason to run a proprietary OS that requires large, expensive development cycles such as Palm OS/Win CE/etc. when a perectly good embedded Linux platform exists which can run thousands of apps already written with minimal or no changes.
The point of using Linux was not to add features, but to lower the cost of the PDA: not only could Sharp avoid the Windows tax by using another OS, they could also (theoretically) reduce their specs from those required for a Windows-CE certified PDA.
Unfortunately, where Sharp could have sold an iPaq-equivalent for hundreds less, they chose to use the money saved by using Linux to add extra hardware features to the device. Thus, rather than a $100-$200 device with functionality equivalent to an iPaq, they delivered a $500-$600 device with functionality and raw performance equivalent to an iPaq, with many extra fancy features such as a full VGA display and the built-in keyboard. Nifty, but this may have been the death of them.
If the PDA market is finally dying...maybe Apple will bring back the Newton...after all, they did take it off the market just as the market was becoming ready for the PDA.
Sigh...I wish Apple would release the newton in the form factor of a palm...I'd buy it no matter what the cost.
Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?
Stupid troll. If you'd used the GPL license, it would have cost $0 in the first place, and the whole world would have benefited.
I don't like gadgets that consume more of my lifespan. A PDA is one of them. A cell phone is one of them. A pager is one of them. A laptop is one of them.
I would have no life left if I was dicking around with all of these no ROI having POS machine's. I don't need it, don't want it, and would rather make my family or friends a nice supper instead.
Gadgets are for people waiting to interact with the world. It's not the same thing as being part of it.