Sharp aims to launch 3G PDA this summer
totaltele.com
Sharp aims to launch 3G PDA this summer
By Reuters staff
11 January 2002
Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp said on Friday it plans to market a personal digital assistant (PDA) this summer for use with NTT DoCoMo Corp's high-speed third-generation (3G) wireless network.
Sharp President Katsuhiko Machida told a news conference the device would be similar to the company's Zaurus PDA, with the addition of a wireless communications function.
Towards the end of last year, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's dominant wireless carrier, launched the world's first commercial 3G service, which offers high-speed transmission needed for videoconferencing, surfing the Internet and other advanced wireless functions.
Sharp, Japan's fourth-largest cellphone maker and its biggest manufacturer of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), has seen strong sales in the Japanese market of its handset models with tiny built-in cameras and full-colour displays.
"For 2.5G and 3G, LCDs are key, as are cameras and flash memory capacity, and the technology to put them all together in the smallest possible package. These are all areas where we excel," Machida said.
As the company's mainstay display operation sharpens its focus on high-growth products such as flat-panel televisions and colour-screen cellphones, Machida said he hoped LCD revenues in the next business year, starting on April 1, would rebound after this year's slump and return to levels seen in 2000/01.
In the last business year, ended in March 2001, Sharp posted LCD revenues of 420 billion yen ($3.18 billion), but for the current year it has forecast a drop of more than 20 percent to 324 billion yen.
Sharp's shares ended Friday trade down 3.34 percent at 1,507 yen, underperforming the benchmark Nikkei average's 0.92 percent drop. ($1=132.21 Yen). |
