Sony Brings the Clie Line to an End

[Ed Hardy]

Sony said today that it is going to stop producing the Clie line of handhelds, and no new models will be introduced.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/En...Clie?site=Palm

[Ed Hardy]

Oh well, so much for yesterday's rumor that a new Clie is coming this spring.

[T.W.G]

as hard as it may sound but in my opinion, Palm(one) is going to die...

A very bad vibe...

Palmones Hardware is too expensive, has low quality and palmsource doesn't have the ressources like Microsoft.

I don't like Windows CE but the PPCs-Hardware is much better(!) than the Palms today!

[jimn367]

Too bad.

I'm hoping P1 comes out with a TC successor with bluetooth, or perhaps a treo with a larger screen and wi-fi to pick up the market niche.

[livefaith]

One immediate question is ... will PalmOne seize the Palm OS vaccuum in Japan? To my knowledge, no Palm OS device is readily available there other than Sony. Sony had a sizeable chunk of the PDA market that PalmOne could have possibly seized, were they ready or willing to try. Toshiba, Sharp and HP were all the majors I remember?

[Ed Hardy]

Originally posted by livefaith
One immediate question is ... will PalmOne seize the Palm OS vaccuum in Japan?

Sadly, I doubt it, and for the same reason palmOne didn't capture much of Sony's market in the U.S. or Europe.

For the most part, Clie users bought the device they did because it was cutting edge. Since the T3, palmOne hasn't put out a cutting-edge handheld. I can't imagine someone who bought a UX50 being happy with a T5.

I'm guessing Clie users are more likely to get a Playstation Portable. Or, if they want something more professional, a Sharp Zaurus. And I'm sure the Pocket PC licensees will be in there swinging, too.

[gfunkmagic]

Well that sucks...

What I want to know though is what are Sony's future intentions or plans, if it has any, with its PalmOS lisence from here on out? The only reason I ask this is because Sony previously made a significant investment into PalmSource (I recall about ~ 20 million dollors or so) and its CEO even made statements to the fact that he was interested in buying PalmSource outright! Of course that was a couple years ago now and alot has changed since then. Will Sony simple let its PalmOS lisence expire into the darkness? Will it divest from its holdings in PalmSource? Is there still any hope for Sony Ericsson to release a PalmOS smartphone (yeah wishful thinking I know)?

[tthiel]

Yup Palm is dying. The Tungsten 5 was the first indication of this. A big FU to their customers. The companies that make Pocket PC's sell many other things and can afford to make little or no profit on them. They essentaily offer them as accessories to their laptops or desktops (Dell). If Palm thinks the Treo is going to save them they better think again. The cell phone companies are smarter and have more resources so it's only a matter of time before the Treo is gone too. They have no intention of letting the Treo stay in its current position.

Originally posted by T.W.G
as hard as it may sound but in my opinion, Palm(one) is going to die...

A very bad vibe...

Palmones Hardware is too expensive, has low quality and palmsource doesn't have the ressources like Microsoft.

I don't like Windows CE but the PPCs-Hardware is much better(!) than the Palms today!

[tthiel]

$20 million is not significant to Sony. They are done with Palm forever.

Originally posted by gfunkmagic
What I want to know though is what are Sony's future intentions or plans, if it has any, with its PalmOS lisence from here on out? The only reason I ask this is because Sony previously made a significant investment into PalmSource (I recall about ~ 20 million dollors or so) and its CEO even made statements to the fact that he was interested in buying PalmSource outright! (

[tthiel]

Ha ha. Palm has no chance of doing anything in Japan. They like their PDA's to be do it all gadgets. I'm sure the T5 is of no interest. Not even any fun to mod it.

Originally posted by livefaith
One immediate question is ... will PalmOne seize the Palm OS vaccuum in Japan? To my knowledge, no Palm OS device is readily available there other than Sony. Sony had a sizeable chunk of the PDA market that PalmOne could have possibly seized, were they ready or willing to try. Toshiba, Sharp and HP were all the majors I remember?