Sony Drops EVilla After Two Months

Sony's EVilla Internet appliance has met with a quick demise, with the company announcing Thursday it will no longer sell the product and will give full refunds to customers who already purchased the device.

Sony launched the EVilla product in early July. The Internet access device provides a sleek device for accessing e-mail, news reports, and online shopping sites. It also supports downloading multimedia content such as video clips and streams from Internet radio stations. The product cost $499 and ran now-defunct Be's BeIA operating system. Internet access was provided through Earthlink.

Neither the hardware nor the software lived up to Sony's expectations, prompting the company to pull its product.

"After we did careful consideration on the product, it fell short of our initial expectations with regard to stability and usability," says John Dolak, a Sony spokesperson. "The network demands placed on the operating system created an unacceptable level of system disruptions."

Joining the Also-Rans

Sony had promoted the product heavily, previewing it at the Consumer Electronics Show last January and then introducing it with much hoopla. At the time, Sony officials were careful to avoid the term "Internet appliance."

Rather, they said at EVilla's introduction, the device is a "network entertainment center." Sony was trying to avoid the stigma of the "Internet appliance" label, especially in light of the many failures in that market, even then. For example, 3Com discontinued its Audrey device after six months, Virgin Entertainment Group's Webplayer sold for less than three months. Netpliance also disappeared from the market, and Gateway reconsidered some of its Net appliance plans before launching.

The company does not have any more Internet appliance products in the works at this time, although it is selling a similar type of device called the Airboard, which gives users a portable, wirelessly connected screen for accessing the Internet at home.

Sony has asked retailers to pull the EVilla devices from their shelves and will offer customers full refunds for the device and services purchased to help support it. Customers who purchased the device can reach Sony for more information by calling 1-888-476-6988.