Sony has announced that it will not be releasing any new products in it's Clie line this year for the US market. Wow, I guess we should have seen this coming. I am disappointed though, because Sony produced great products and is a true innovator in the business. Since Handspring abandoned the traditional PDA market prior to its sale to PalmOne, this opens the market up for Palm One as the only company producing Palm based PDAs in the US!!! It appears that Sony will continue to make a go of it in Japan.
Darn, I was hoping to be the first one to post this news but couldn't bring myself to do it. It's so sad. I have read a couple of articles speculating that part of the reason they've been having problems is due to the "new market focus" on PDA phones rather than PDAs. Apparently, due to the Sony Ericsson contract, they cannot make a CLIE PDA phone, and this was becoming problematic, sales-wise. That's pretty interesting...
Originally posted by CLEAmber Darn, I was hoping to be the first one to post this news but couldn't bring myself to do it. It's so sad. I have read a couple of articles speculating that part of the reason they've been having problems is due to the "new market focus" on PDA phones rather than PDAs. Apparently, due to the Sony Ericsson contract, they cannot make a CLIE PDA phone, and this was becoming problematic, sales-wise. That's pretty interesting...
As far as I can remember, I think this is the first time to find a fairly good sized Japanese Business conglomerate to throw in the towel. I am sure they have another huge product up their sleeve. Sony Electronics is not a company that retreats... they are an aggresive product-oriented company. They have a good track record to prove that.
Originally posted by Marctronixx yeah the clie is an awesome device... if it was a phone it would certainly give the handset makers a run for their money...
I agree with that. It's a shame they can't give it a shot.
Originally posted by equus Wow, I guess this was coming . I am disappointed though, they did produce good products. This opens the market up, kind of wide for Palm One!!!. Well, at least its only in US.. they want to pull out. http://apnews.myway.com//article/200...D82UHB7O0.html
Very disappointing news. I have always been impressed with the Clie. Sony was always well ahead of the curve in terms of on-screen color graphics and multimedia. Eventually I got one for myself (a Clie UX 50). I like it a lot. I guess my Clie will become a valuable collectors item for my grandchildren...
Well, I heard a rumor at one of the booths at CTIA that they may be entering the pdaPhone market, and now I'm wondering. What would be equally good would be for them to dump their intellectual capital into the Sony Ericsson arena and combine forces to produce some cool stuff.
The other thing that this little announcement does, in my mind, is validates the idea that PDAs are slowly fading out in favor of pdaPhones. If they are in fact bound up in the Sony Ericsson contract, then it would be a huge endorcement of pdaPhones that they are pulling the plug. Also remember that Handspring essentially did the same thing when they put all eggs in the Treo 600 basket.... throwing out the regular PDA business.
Well, I heard a rumor at one of the booths at CTIA that they may be entering the pdaPhone market, and now I'm wondering. What would be equally good would be for them to dump their intellectual capital into the Sony Ericsson arena and combine forces to produce some cool stuff.
The other thing that this little announcement does, in my mind, is validates the idea that PDAs are slowly fading out in favor of pdaPhones. If they are in fact bound up in the Sony Ericsson contract, then it would be a huge endorcement of pdaPhones that they are pulling the plug. Also remember that Handspring essentially did the same thing when they put all eggs in the Treo 600 basket.... throwing out the regular PDA business.
There have been lots of rumors that Sony or Sony/Ericsson would eventually produce a pdaPhone. I would love to see that happen, but I'm not holding my breath.
Originally posted by dwdod There have been lots of rumors that Sony or Sony/Ericsson would eventually produce a pdaPhone. I would love to see that happen, but I'm not holding my breath.
Me either. And, if they do, it would probably be for GSM first and not CDMA
Originally posted by equus As far as I can remember, I think this is the first time to find a fairly good sized Japanese Business conglomerate to throw in the towel. I am sure they have another huge product up their sleeve. Sony Electronics is not a company that retreats... they are an aggresive product-oriented company. They have a good track record to prove that.
From what I've heard lately, they are trying to focux more on mini PC's (particularly in the US) rather than PDAs, due to market issues: http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGN-U50/
As far as I understand, They don't plan on putting much more effort into SE. I think the odds of a decent PDA phone from them are pretty slim. They haven't done very well with the P800/900 and, in general, don't seem all that focused on mobile technology. I agree that it's terribly unfortunate. My UX50 is, by far, my favorite device I have ever owned and I was truly looking forward to updating it someday. NO ONE has come out with a PDA that even comes close, both in form and functionality.
Sony to stop selling Clie's in US?
Sony has announced that it will not be releasing any new products in it's Clie line this year for the US market. Wow, I guess we should have seen this coming. I am disappointed though, because Sony produced great products and is a true innovator in the business. Since Handspring abandoned the traditional PDA market prior to its sale to PalmOne, this opens the market up for Palm One as the only company producing Palm based PDAs in the US!!! It appears that Sony will continue to make a go of it in Japan. 
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