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Sony Takes on Palm With Clie PDA

Device will be available in late September, but is it any different than a Palm?

By Martyn Williams, IDG News   

The Clie, which will be available in the U.S. in late September, carries a list price of $399--exactly the same as Palm's sleek Vx model and color IIIc model. Consumers will be able to order the device from Sony's Web site.

It will only be available in the United States as a monochrome device, despite the fact that Sony announced both color and monochrome versions in Japan. The sleek styling of the device indicates that Sony is aiming more for the style-conscious Palm Vx user.

Sony's hardware has little to differentiate it from the Palm Vx. It sports the same 8MB of memory and is almost the same size.

The largest difference between the two machines is in support for Sony's MemoryStick. While the Palm does not have any slots for media cards, the Clie supports MemoryStick, which initially provides a convenient way to expand memory and will, in the future, also act as a connector for a range of yet-to-be-released hardware cards, such as a digital still camera model.

In the software department, the Clie will have more support for digital imaging. With the MemoryStick slot, users of the company's digital still cameras will be able to view images directly on the Clie. And unlike the Palm devices, the machine also includes a video viewer. Based on technology from Silicon Valley start-up Generic Media, the software can display images at between 4 and 10 frames per second.

Explaining the decision to market only the monochrome version in the U.S. market, Sony spokesperson Ted Kanno said the company sees strong demand for such products. "In the United States, monochrome is dominant and taking root" in the PDA market, he says.

Sony does not rule out the possibility of marketing the color version in the North American market in the future, he says.

U.S. consumers upset at the lack of a color version can take some consolation in the price. When the device goes on sale in Japan in September, it will likely retail for around $520 for the monochrome version and slightly more for the color machine.