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To: foundation who wrote (88272)	11/27/2000 10:07:17 AM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Sharp Plans Move Into U.S. Market With Entertainment-Centered PDAs By PETER LANDERS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL November 27, 2000 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% to 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 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 for free, 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. Write to Peter Landers at peter.landers@wsj.com