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Great technology or
late technology
By:
Dave
- June 21, 2001
Sony, Sony, Sony. As a kid,
I always wanted to buy Sony. "How much is the Sony," my Dad would always
ask when we were searching for new audio or video equipment. "How does
that compare to, the Sony?" In this wild market of PDA's, I still hear
this from people, but usually, it is how does the Palm m505 compare to
that new Sony (the Sony being referred to as the lesser of the two). In
my mind, Sony never really took off as a big player in PDA's. Sony's
devices always seem to enter the market a little to late for me, after
everyone else has released at least one device. Their first device
wasn't revolutionary. It only had one thing, the Memory Stick; a
technology that is in my mind is far dead. Let me explain why I say
that.
I was probably ten when I
first heard of the Sony Memory Stick. In 1993, the Memory Stick was
going to be revolutionary. Memory, on a stick of gum, and we were
thrilled with just a megabyte or so. Alas, the years passed, and no new
technology. CF came out, and Smart Media. Finally, Sony started using
this technology I had heard about so long ago. Their devices came out,
they were expensive, and nobody bought them. Duh. I could have told them
that would happen. Companies could learn a lot from me. Make good
technology, like the Memory Stick. Then market it for as cheap as other
similar devices are. You might have to take lower profits for a while,
but once people like your technology, make the new stuff, more
expensive.
Sony releases, their
first CLIE. Black and White, same as everyone else though we do have
some color devices. Sony presents a compact size, a jog dial, and a
memory stick slot. They price it about that same as everybody else, and
in my mind they lost some market share. Releasing later is not better
because people have already shelled out $500 for the newest Palm, why do
they want yours too. To the average user, some of the features like
320x320 resolution, were just not a "big turn on".
Sony goes back to the
drawing board. Palm released more devices. The m500 series hits the
market along with Handsprings Visor Edge and Handera's device just as
Sony breaks the news of one of their Japanese devices coming to the US.
Once again, Sony releases after many other device releases which helps
to overshadow their device. The CLIE n710c has a 16-bit color screen and
a new CLIE design. It still has nothing really new, like Handera's dual
slots or virtual graffiti. It doesn't have even a revised memory slot or
more expandability like the m505. The screen is slightly smaller then
other devices, though it still has that "better resolution" (limited to
certain programs).
By now, you think I hate
Sony. I do not. I still look at Sony like I did in the past, but I think
they have made some bad judgment calls on release dates. If their n710c
had been out just before the other recent Palm OS devices came out (like
about the time when Sony announced the Japanese versions), I couldn't
say as much because at the time, it would have had quite a bit. The CLIE
group at Sony should work harder on the US market, if they want a US
market share. They are very focused on Japan, which isn't bad, but lets
not forget the US with some new stuff. There is just as much money to be
made over here as there is over there, if you just get your devices out
sooner or at least with a cheaper price.
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