Almost a year ago, Sony pulled out of the handheld market everywhere except in Japan. Since that decision, only one new Clié; was released in Japan, the VZ90. Now, Sony has announced that it will pull out of the Japanese PDA market as well. No more Cliés. Instead Sony will consider partnering with others. Two potential partnerships would be with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications for telecommunication-orientated products and Sony Computer Entertainment for gaming-orientated devices.
Sony’s exit in Japan now leaves only Sharp, Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard to compete in the PDA arena.