Maybe so, but I'd hate to lose my big keyboard and screen. I've used Palm for years - starting with a Palm Pro and ending with a Clie TJ35 (320x320, 200mhz Strongarm, 32mb Ram). For 3 of those years I had 5xxx Zaurii, and while they were fun they weren't very practical.
1 week after getting the 860 and discovering Ko/Pi I was gone. 640x480 screen, strong battery life, and a keyboard I could literally use for hours at a time. (I spent almost 5 hours doing some writing on my 860 on my flight back from Japan) . I don't *want* a PDA with a smaller res screen anymore.
Sharp shot themselves in the foot in North America. They gave up on the consumer market after lackluster sales of the 5x00 series (with the weak software, poor battery life and so-so screens).
The 6000, were it to have been released as a reasonably priced, reasonably sized (aka non-hardened) unit would probably have done much better in the consumer market: It had more polished apps, better battery and screen, and a more complete feature set with the wireless and USB host. Unfortunately what we got was an overpriced and sized Enterprise marketed brick.
Now, dismayed by poor sales, they refuse to even try selling their truly innovative clamshell designs here at all. AARGH!
The Qtopia platform isn't dead. I don't forsee Sharp abandoning the C series in Japan any time soon - the 860s were for sale just about everywhere over there when I visited last October. The new Archos Jukebox runs qtopia (but only has a 320x480 screen - Double AARGH!), and there's the new Phone version to consider.
I suppose it's somewhat comforting to note that if I want a new Z badly enough, I can get one. Either by grey market import, or a leisurely 10 1/2 hr hop across the Pacific.
