Interesting...
On the same news page they also have a story about Sony killing off the Clie in Japan, which contains a mention of the Z and Buffalo, manufacturer of WiFi cards (their English translation):
Sony kills Clie, even in Japan!
Well, it seems that the rumours have become reality, and after throwing the towel in Europe and the States, the Japanese giant decided to stop the production of its last Clie models (VZ90 and TH55) in July 2005. Impress has the dirt on this story, and they say that the PSP will fill up the gap. Impress makes it clear at the end of their article that Sony will focus on the PSP and mobile phones… so will we have a PDAphone soon in Japan?
The PDA market becomes a lot more dull all of a sudden, as Sony had a nice share of the market. PDA’s powered by PocketPC are present on the market thanks to HP and Toshiba (which is the only brand present in the Japanese press concerning this), and there also is the Sharp Zaurus, but that has some problems too as Buffalo, the company that makes the WiFi Compact Flash cards for the Zaurus, has decided to call it quits too, and new owners of a Zaurus will not be able to get WiFi on their devices anymore.
If manufacturers like Nintendo start offering PDA functions on their devices, and if Sony offers a browser and basic PIM functionality on the PSP, there will no longer be any PDA’s in Japan very soon.
They also mention Hitachi's new 6GB microdrive.
And here's their English translation of the Z item:
Rumors: We may have a New Zaurus?
BE CAREFUL, THIS IS UNCONFIRMED INFORMATION: I talked to a retailer on the phone this morning, who told me that there COULD be a new Zaurus in March. Of course, no news from Sharp, so WAIT & SEE.
This new device could be a logical evolution of the line-up (Zaurus 3000 and 860), because there is not one Sharp PDA with Wireless LAN functionality and it’s no longer possible to get WiFi cards for these existing Zaurus models in Japan.
I find it interesting that they think users in Japan won't be able to get WiFi cards for the Z anymore in Japan because of Buffalo going belly-up. There are plenty of other vendors of WiFi cards. Surely the Japanese could at least import some?
I hope they're correct though about Sharp adding WiFi to the new Z because of this (or for any reason, for that matter!).
I would also guess that the new Z would use the new 6GB microdrive.
This would then be a compelling upgrade for many C860/760 users, I think: built-in WiFi; 6GB microdrive; and USB host. I may have to get the checkbook out myself.
~ray
