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So Long, Sony; Hello, Zire 72 and Axim X30Sony gives Clie a rest; two hot new PDAs arrive.Yardena Arar, PC World
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This column was supposed to be primarily about the Zire 72, as I promised last month. But first, a word about Sony's departure--for now, at least--from the PDA fray in most of the world.
So Long, Clie
Those of you who've read my reviews of the Sony Clie PEG-TH55, in the April and May columns, may think I wasn't sorry to hear Sony announce that it would not be introducing any new models for the rest of the year (except in Japan). That isn't completely true. I think Sony saw, before other vendors, that multimedia matters in handhelds. The company led the way in introducing exciting features such as cameras to small devices.
But I don't care for most of Sony's customizations of the Palm OS. That, I won't miss.
Sony may yet come back to PDAs. In its statement the company insisted that mobile devices remain "a key pillar to our core business strategy." But my guess is that if Sony does return to the PDA market, it will be with a new brand name that doesn't have Clie's high-end, all-the-bells-and-whistles connotation. (I suspect Sony will channel those urges to its upcoming handheld gaming device, previewed at E3.)
Kevin Burden, a top IDC guru on handhelds, pointed out that Sony was out of step with a market that is seeing cell phones with more and more multimedia features going down, down, down in price. And...