from wsj.com....
November 26, 2000
AWSJ: Japan's Sharp To Launch New PDA
In US
By PETER LANDERS
Staff Reporter
OSAKA, Japan -- Sharp Corp. plans to wade into the crowded U.S.
market with an entertainment-oriented gadget that will offer Internet access
and downloading of color video.
This marks the latest attempt by Japan's dominant player in palm-size
computing devices to break into foreign markets with its line of personal
digital assistants, or PDAs. Sharp has seized the dominant position in Japan
and its PDAs are widely used by businesspeople here. But Sharp will face
strong competition from Palm Inc. and Japanese rival Sony Corp., which
started offering its own palm-size communication device, known as Clie, in
September.
Sharp's move shows how the PDA business, dominated in each market by a
local player, is now going global. Palm started selling Japanese-language
versions of its PDAs in April. Sharp says it retains a 40%-50% share of the
Japanese market, which is expected to reach one million units this year.
Sharp's palm-size device is called Zaurus in Japan. The Japanese Zaurus,
which has only a rudimentary keyboard, is different from a line of
keyboard-equipped electronic organizers that Sharp has sold in the U.S.
under the Zaurus name.
Yoichi Sakai, general manager of Sharp's communication systems group,
said Sharp will try to distinguish itself from Palm's products by stressing
multimedia features such as the ability to play music and movie trailers
downloaded from Web sites. Those features are included in the latest
Japanese Zaurus, which was unveiled last week in Japan. "Our target is
different -- video, games and so on. It's hard to handle moving pictures with
the Palm operating system," Mr. Sakai said in an interview.
Palm officials in Japan couldn't be reached for comment.
Sharp officials said they plan to start selling the Sharp PDA in the U.S. in the
first half of next year. Like the latest Japanese Zaurus model, the U.S. model
will have a slot for a data-communications card so that users can log on to
the Internet even if they aren't near a phone line.
One challenge for Sharp in the U.S. may be developing a network of
independent software developers to write applications for the new Sharp
PDA. Palm makes its operating system available freely, and many
technically adept users have written programs that have broadened the
Palm's appeal.
Also, Sharp needs to lower its price for the U.S. market -- the latest
Japanese Zaurus will retail for about 50,000 yen ($453) -- if it intends to
target the entertainment market, said Kevin Williams, an analyst at market
researcher IDC Japan Ltd. "People are not willing to pay more than $250
for these devices," he said. |
