Sharp exiting consumer PDA Market in the US

[wolfman]

I think that japanese companies do not think anyone outside their country even cares about high tech toys.  I also think its sad American companies do not notice this niche and try to fill it.

[nilch]

I can understand your hopefullness and eagerness in seeing Sharp succeed - we all do - since we all like the zaurus so much. And hence I can understand your anger at people who believe otherwise - its more of the wishful syndrome maybe, and I am guilty to that too. Thats cause Sharp doesnt seem to share our steadfast belief in the zaurus as much as we do.

As for calling some as pocketpeecee trolls (i an one who backed the idea of actually holding a zaurus and playing with it before makeing a decision), I think you got it wrong.

See I actually held and played with a SL-6000 (at Linux expo) as well as the SL-5500 and 5600 (till now I owned a SL-5000d).
But after getting the chance to actually hold a C7xx in my hands, I decided to go for the C750 instead of the 6000. Of course price was a consideration too, but before this I was actually thinking of buying the 6000. So its not that I have to hold a zaurus to tell the difference between a zaurus and a pocketpc, but rather to tell the difference between the different zaurii. Maybe that makes me a Zaurii troll, say what ? :wink:

[Anonymous]

Perhaps my older post was misunderstood.  You see, I\'m not at all trying to troll.  I own a Z 5600 that I got when the price started falling, and I would happily upgrade to a 6000W if the price was right.  I LIKE the Zaurus.  But what I CAN\'T STAND is a company that doesn\'t believe in its own products.  The FACT is that Sharp is not marketing to consumers AT ALL anymore. (and they weren\'t doing much before either, but now its official)  To the extent that the Zaurus sells into the hands of people like you and me, and of course it will to some extent, its because of tech savvy enthusiasts such as the majority of people who visit this website and other PDA forums.   People who understand the value of solid technology and engineering, and people who WANT a tiny Linux workstation in their pocket, and are willing to pay more than the devices that ARE in the consumer market.  These sales will happen in SPITE of Sharp\'s marketing, not because of it.

Just realize that these people represet a TINY minority of the consumer PDA market.  Sure, there are enough of us to account for some sales.  Maybe even a few thousand.  Now consider that overall PDA sales are 10s of millions each year, of which some sizable fraction are consumer sales, and you can see that the Zaurus is just a splinter on the Pie Chart, if it\'s visible at all.  And its doubtful that the marketshare will be growing much without marketing.

With regards to PCConnection, I don\'t consider them a consumer site at all.  They\'re a typical internet tech reseller.  They provide tech products to knowlegable buyers, much like a distributer.  Their customers are made up of tech enthusiasts, IT professionals, etc, with IT professionals being the majority.  The average consumer wouldn\'t have a clue what to do with a site like that.  And no, nobody reading this site is an average consumer, at least when it comes to tech.  And the majority of the people buying Zaurus\'s from PCConnection will be buying them for business purposes.  Overall, the Zaurus 6000 may not be a terrible seller.  It definately has practical business uses.

All this is to say that I\'m not unhappy they are selling it.  Quite the contrary, I look forward to having the opportunity to buy one myself.  Just realize that the title of this thread is still true.

[DrWowe]

Okay that was annoying.  I logged in right before posting that and it still came out guest...

[chyang]

SL-6000 series has been available in Japan. See the price(before Tax, Japan Yen):
SHARP   SL-6000L  4  73,720 ゲットプラス  80,000 Cat Works  80,400
SHARP   SL-6000N  4  67,740 ゲットプラス  73,800 Cat Works  74,000
SHARP   SL-6000W  3  79,030 ズーコム  84,800 Cat Works  85,300
SHARP   SL-C860  21  55,000 ナニワ電機  55,500 ネオカデン  56,980 特価COM  

The price is good. Isn\'t it?

[nathanwms]

It appears to me that Sharp is content being one of the dominant handheld companies in Japan and serving a niche market worldwide.  Sharp is an extremely diverse company and I don\'t think they have plans to be a worldwide handheld leader.  In some ways, it seems as though they use the handheld market as a test bed for their small lcd screen technology and have little to no desire to ramp up the marketing machine and take on the Palm and PocketPC market.

[DrWowe]

Nathanwms:  I agree.  Thanks for putting it so concisely.    I also have a feeling that it IBMs influence that\'s keeping them in the North American market at all.

[nathanwms]

@DrWowe
Exactly, if you have no plans to compete aggressively in the worldwide commercial market the next best thing is establishing yourself in the corporate market.  It has worked well for Symbol who makes handhelds primarily to satisfy corporate needs.  The corporate market yields a much bigger payback for each advertising/marketing dollar spent and often requires fewer people on the marketing end to support.  

The corporate market can provide Sharp with a strong and steady income stream without the expense of trying to \'run with the big dogs\'.  On the one hand I can understand why Sharp is marketing the Zaurus as they are; however, as a satisfied Zaurus user and one who believes the Zaurus C-XXX series is the best handheld hardware platform on the market, I would love to see Sharp promote it as such.