SAN DIEGO-The first major casualty in the declining market for personal digital assistants appears to be Sony Corp., which said it won’t release any new Clie PDAs in the United States this year. The move is a nod toward the growing market for smart phones and could represent a blow to PalmSource Inc., which sells the Palm OS operating system that Sony uses in its Clie devices.
Sony said it is re-evaluating the PDA market in the United States, and it won’t release any new devices this year, according to reports. The company was not immediately available for comment. Sony said it would refocus its efforts on its mobile-phone partnership with Ericsson. The Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications joint venture builds several high-end smart phones.
The market for nonwireless PDAs has been declining during the past several years, while the market for wireless smart phones and wireless PDAs has been increasing.
Sony’s news could come as a blow to PalmSource, which is locked in a battle for PDA market share with operating system rival Microsoft Corp. Both PalmSource and Microsoft also play in the smart-phone market. PalmSource was not immediately available for comment.
