06-01-2004, 04:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Some Thoughts on Sony Exiting the Market...
Sony doesn't exit markets lightly, so this is a very significant statement for them to cede a market to the competition. I've always been impressed by their hardware and industrial design, so I mourn the loss of them as a competitor in this space. The UX50 is an impressive device from a hardware standpoint, and I believe it's partially what drove Microsoft to adopt a square-screen resolution and clamshell devices with keyboards as possibilities for their OEMs. This means it's up to palmOne to keep the Pocket PC OEMs on their toes in the design department. Think they're up to it? I have my doubts...
It's funny how things change - a year or two ago I was predicting that Sony would buy Palm and kill off the other Palm OS licensees and the only Palm OS devices on the market would be running on Sony hardware. Instead, we have a complete reversal - the only significant Palm OS devices are now going to be made by palmOne (now that they've acquired Handspring). Garmin is a niche player. BargainPDA seems to think that Sony will be back, but I'm not so sure. I think they develop their mobile gaming devices to have PIM features, but not much else. I don't expect to see Sony back to doing a pure-play PDA, ever.
UPDATE: I was reading a Canalys report that came in this morning, and they had this to say about Sony:
"Among the top 10 worldwide vendors, Sony has probably suffered the most from the decline in the North American handheld market, which accounts for the vast majority of its CLI� business, with shipments almost halving year-on-year. "Being very consumer focused, Sony's handheld business hasn't really benefited much from the general upturn in business mobility spending, while at the same time what were once distinguishing features, such as integrated cameras and MP3 playback, have appeared on more devices, including mobile phones, from other vendors," Lashford added."
Seems to reinforce what we're seeing with Sony now, doesn't it?
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06-01-2004, 05:49 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 77
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No one is making any money shipping PDAs. Not Palm, not PPC. Combine this with a shrinking market, and you'd have to be insane to keep throwing money at this.
If Sony gets back into the PalmOS game, my guess is it will only be with high-end PalmOS 6 smartphones. Otherwise they'll still cover the functionality a PDA gives with smartphones, the PSP, and palmtop sized WinXP computers, all three of which give good profit margins.
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06-01-2004, 06:02 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 309
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Let�s see the good thing: it�s likely that Sony will make cool mini PC�s, ala OQO, and someday will be practical. Instant on, lots of memory, BT and WiFi... and of course, IE. Let�s be practical: no PDA can surf the web as a real computer can.
But don�t worry, we will still have a PDA in our pocket in the future, and it will do PIM as today... only that it will be a phone also, with GSM, EDGE, GPRS, and who knows what else. At this time, i�m excited about what sony will do to replace the SE P900. And i�m pretty sure they�ll make something great.
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This site should go the way of msmobiles.com. Forget WM and start talking android. Androidthoughts.com
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06-01-2004, 06:03 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 481
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This might seem like a stupid question but... I also liked Sony's hardware but the combination of hardware, Software and OS they came in second. Why couldn't they just take the MS OS and put it on their hardware.
Jeff-
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06-01-2004, 06:47 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 449
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by lapchinj
This might seem like a stupid question but... I also liked Sony's hardware but the combination of hardware, Software and OS they came in second. Why couldn't they just take the MS OS and put it on their hardware.
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Ummm... the reason they didn't use PPC OS is because they wanted to be extremely innovative. PPC (prior to SE) tied the OEMs to a 320x240 screen, no landscape mode, among other restrictions. Clies had high-res screens, landscape mode, and more. They had to use an OS as flexible as PalmOS. You can point to Toshiba and say they broke teh restrictions with the e805, but that's only if you use a hack.
I agree strongly with Jason about the competition provided by Sony. I've been hoping that Sony wasn't leaving the market since I heard the rumors, even though I won't leave WM now because of software investments. People here may be cheering because a POS compitor is gone, showing the superiority of the WM OS. </sarcasm> But who do you think drove Toshiba and others to make VGA screens? Sony (and Pa1mOne) have had very nice 320x320 and 320x480 screens while we PPC users have been stuck with 320x240. Look at the screen size of the new Clies, I don't like the lack of a D-pad, but those devices are just a screen, no wasted edge space. They are innovators, and they were in the opposite camp (POS). PPC users really should be hoping that Pa1mOne starts introducing new, advanced, cutting-edge devices.
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06-01-2004, 06:50 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,055
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by lapchinj
Why couldn't they just take the MS OS and put it on their hardware.
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Sony, like many other hardware vendors, doesn't get along very well with Microsoft. In fact, in recent years, Sony has been trying to cut ties with Microsoft. I read a CNet article in 2001 that said Sony is working on their own distribution of Linux, which it will distribute with the Vaio line. I don't know if Sony is still working on it, or if they dropped the project, but one thing is for sure: Sony hates Microsoft.
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06-01-2004, 07:34 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 101
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It's funny that Canalys says their sales halved, while Gartner (we called them for a phone conference about the Sony departure) says that they had 25% of the NA market last year and 20% this year. Makes you wonder where all these numbers come from!
__________________
http://www.mobiletechreview.com(formerly pdabuyersguide.com)
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06-01-2004, 07:37 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 39
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zack Mahdavi
Sony hates Microsoft.
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Sony doesn't hate Microsoft any more then they hate any company that isn't them. They have stuck with a completely propietary system for the entire life of the company, and it has sunk them so many times I can't even count. It's a never ending story of Sony having supior hardware, then developing some crappy software in house, closing it completly so it will always be inferior, and refusing to use any other solution long after better ones exist.
Betamax is the classic example, but ATRAC is a better and more recent one. That codec has been surpased in compression quality by EVERYTHING else currently on the market, yet Sony, even now 20 years after the codec's inseption, only releases devices that use ATRAC exclusively. Let's hope this opens up a spot in the market for someone better.
EDIT: Okay, I realize that PalmOS isn't Sony either, and therefor this whole post is worthless. Sorry, I just got a little carried away.
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06-01-2004, 07:37 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 19
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I think the demise of PalmOne is overstated a bit lately
Palm has very good products out these days, and I'd argue that they were doing a better job than Sony as of late at getting affordable products that buyers want.
They have arguably the best pda/phone in the Treo 600, and their units are sporting very nice displays, keyboards, bluetooth/wifi, etc.
Is Palm's recent innovation the product of Sony alone? I don't think so. While Sony did more for the Palm, it has been the
market that has provided the innovation. Sony didn't add features in a vacuum. PPC venders have been doing the same, and Palm IMHO has the groundwork to continue the trend towards decent products.
While I prefer my 3970, I cant help but see that it's been a while since Palm's lineup was as drab as my shoes.
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06-01-2004, 08:48 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 301
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by mv
...it�s likely that Sony will make cool mini PC�s, ala OQO, and someday will be practical.
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Like:
http://www.dynamism.com/u70/
I know I want one! It's VERY expensive, but at the same time, the truly "full-functionality" you get from an XP installation would be dramatically more useful than PPC.
To me, the size of of an e800/4-inch VGA PPC is so big I can't pocket it anymore. If I have to carrying a unit in a backpack or case, it might as well be "the real deal." If I my choice is to have a "can't pocket" a 4-inch VGA PocketPC, then I might as well choose a "can't pocket" 5-inch SVGA TabletPC.
You are right that they will have to fix XP's abysmal suspend instabillity and slow resume times though before this really could replace my iPaq.
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