News

Speculation is getting pretty hot and heavy in Japan that Sony is close to releasing a new Clie in the mold of the TH55. Sony hasn't released a new PDA, even in Japan, since the VZ90 back in September '04.

Here's the quote that has everyone's interest:

In these days, there are rumor about new Clie in Japan. Since VZ90 has been released on Sep 2004, many people believe that VZ90 will be final Clie even in Japan. And UX50,NX80V also discontinue last month. So some users want to buy final stock of Clie and its accessories in Japan. But some shop comment that "New Clie will come in Spring".

And some Japanese BBS shows details of New Clie (he may be internally SONY member Ibelieve.) It should be new generation of TH55 series, but it looks like VAIO series. Anyway, this is good news for Japanese people. Wait few more months or within this month.

This comes from Japanese site nifty, http://www.cocolog-nifty.com/. It makes sense for Sony to keep a toe in the PDA business, their brand is strong enough to compete well in Japan, and a good Clie would supplement their notebook business well. Given the lack of creativity in the Palm OS world in North America the past year, even an average Clie would probably be imported on the grey market like crazy.