Comments on: Rumor: More on the Sony SJ30

The T series will probably be upgraded to OS 5 Palm Device soon after.

And I don't know what that "+ JogDial + Back Button ..." post means, because both the SJ30 and the T665C have Jog Dials and Back buttons...

I don't think that you have to worry that Sony is going to slack-up on OS 5.0. Look what they did to OS 4. Now that OS 5.0 enable them to have a significantly faster processor to play with, it's actually kinda scary what they will come up with.

I think that Sony will be concentrating mostly on multimedia. I think that when they first started to develope the Clie, they said that you can potenially use the Clie to watch TV shows and movies most likely stored in memory sticks.

All I know is that I can't wait to see what Sony is going to come up with.

www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=3874&MODE=FLAT#57713

Come to think of it, why do car makers make so many different kinds cars? I mean, a Toyota and a Lexus often come from the same factory.

The guy who posted the first message in this thread must be a marketing genius, vastly superior to the likes of the marketing people at Sony, Nike, and Toyota.

-jeremy

First off, you need to learn how to speak english. Second, you must realize as I reiterated the point....I was strictly referring to the fact that Sony has made too many devices with similiar feature sets. I don't care if they are in the 'low-market' or in the 'high-market', my single point was that the models are coming out too quickly, without emphasis on a single model. When Palm releases its ONE product: say the m505, the market ate it up, because there had been significant coverage of it in the media. However, when Sony introduces like 3 devices within 2 months, ample media coverage is NOT there. Next, with your rant about how I don't have a brain....Warehousing (which is spelled like I wrote it, not the way you did) cost goes dramatically up, if each company selling Sony Clies has to keep x number in stock of EACH device! That is common sense. Next, each item Sony creates theoretically makes the cost of 'total' development (for all clies) rise as well. This may not be true, but most likely it is, since they have to have seperate robots to create these devices. So, first go learn how to spell, then take a few courses in economics and marketing, you'll figure it out soon enough!

-jeremy

No they shouldn't. The great thing about Palm OS - now that OS5 has switched to ARM - is that manufacturers can now provide both low and high cost devices. Sure the ARM units have the horsepower to do really cool stuff like taking games,video,audio to the next level - but most software (at least until native OS 6 app dominate) will continue to run on older 4.1 devices. This abililty to have low coast devices is a nice edge over PPC.

Hey there, Jeremy. Product diversity doesn't cause a problem with warehousing, so long as the units are moving. By the arrogance of your post, I would've thought you knew that. My bad.

Now, regarding your feeble attacks....you might want to look at your own writing.

"Original" is spelled the way *I* typed it, not the way *you* did.

Oh, and "everyone's" should be possessive, the way *I* typed it, not the way *you* did.

I made *ONE* spelling error in my entire message.
You made *TWO* before your first sentence was over....and you wanna question MY spelling abilities?!?!?

Get a clue, pal. You're a punk with no backup.

Look, Sony have been playing this game for two years now. They have done everything they can to penetrate the market, yet they have only a small market share. Let's look at what they have tried. First, they have offered all the ooh-ah gizmos, but that hasn't done the trick - their best selling model was and remains the s3xx. They tried undercutting the market, but they have shot themselves in the foot with that. They have saturated us this marketing spiel, but their sales are still pretty weak.

Now they are trying to cut production costs to drive the cost down. My fear is that they will just compromise on quality with these new models - let's just wait and see on that (although Ben Combee's article was not very heartening on the quality issue). Anyway with their small production runs, they will never be able to get their cost down enough.

I wonder if they will ever make any money from PDAs.

You got that wrong! Palm,Inc. or Handspring are financially desperate - not Sony.

>Look, Sony have been playing this game for two years now. They have done everything they can to penetrate the market, yet they have only a small market share.

Get your facts straight. Sony has 9.6% of the world's PDA market, according to IDC's Q2 data. That's nothing to sneeze at. Palm has a 33% loss of marketshare, and the others are struggling to compete.

>They tried undercutting the market, but they have shot themselves in the foot with that.

BS. For shooting themselves in the foot, Sony saved the Palm platform.

>They have saturated us this marketing spiel, but their sales are still pretty weak.

No, they're giving you MORE choices than the competition. You don't have to buy all their products. It's your mind that is weak.

>Now they are trying to cut production costs to drive the cost down.
And this is a bad thing, how?

>My fear is that they will just compromise on quality with these new models
You afraid of too many things.

>Anyway with their small production runs, they will never be able to get their cost down enough.

This is SONY, not some troubled startup like Handspring.

> I wonder if they will ever make any money from PDAs.

Don't worry. They profit from many other things. A little loss here, and a little gain there.

Heres the prove: virtually every stock benefitted in the last 24 hours from a minor rush.
Exept one: PALM

The SJ30 will sell well, but not nearly as well as the m515.

The SJ30 will sell well, but not nearly as well as the m515."

I couldn't agree more with this statement. The m515 has already made a boatload of money, and to say another Sony will kill this and beat that is just unintelligent. Which leads me to my next comment...

Average Joe still thinks of a Sony as a "Palm Pilot". Have you ever tried explaining what your new pda does to somebody? You say, "Oh yeah, my NR70v can play mp3s, take digital photos, I can type on my keyboard, and I can look at pictures and movies in widescreen format." And they just look at you with a blank expression on their face and say, "Oh, is that one of them new Palm Pilots?" This even happens with PPCs. My friend told me one day, "Yo dude, Sal's Palm Pilot kills yours!" and I went over to Sal and it said COMPAQ right on the front. Just face it, the Palm Pilot is just like Kleenex (tissues), Jello (flavored Jelatin), and Coke (cola). Palm will have that advantage for the rest of their reign. Even if they drop off the face of the Earth, a new pda will always be referred to as a "Palm Pilot", and there is really nothing you can do.

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If early to bed, early to rise makes you healthy, wealthy, and wise, does going to bed late make you sick, poor, and dumb?

WALDO = Palm's B&W OS5/ARM unit

you heard it here first.

B/W still carries better battery life, and there are likely a lot of Palm users out there who still cherish it. What's more, you can still do mp3 very nicely with a B/W device. Photos and video obviously aren't as cool in B/W. What's more, if it's cheap enough, a B/W device with OS5 and mp3 might be a big seller.

>> "My MP3 player uses MMC as does my digital camera." <<

Yeah, but this is what I don't understand about people who complain about the "proprietary" memory stick. As it stands, you CANNOT use the MMC that you use in your mp3 player to listen to, or even transfer, mp3s to your Palm. And I think the digital photos will only transfer to your Palm if you own a Panasonic. So how is MMC/SD so much more "open" for the Palm platform than Memory Stick is?

I can use a Memory Stick in a camera, take photos, then view those photos directly in my Clie. I can transfer mp3s and ATRAC3s to my Memory Stick and listen to them on my Clie or on whatever MS-based music player Sony has out now (they're always changing). Sure, I have to own Sony products (which is Sony's objective...duh), but I still get more benefits with MS than I do with SD/MMC.

Memory Stick is fine with me.

By the way, have you finished your homework?

The "I won't every by a Sony Palm device because of the proprietary Memory Stick" arguement, TO ME, just lacks any substance. Most people, I would assume, purchase a card for their Palm device and basically leave it in the device. I have on Memory Stick for loading MP3's, and another which I always leave in the device, unless I'm going to listen to music.

I just don't see it as THAT big of an advantage or disadvantage, that I can't use my M.S. in my digital camera. I have a card for the Digital camera, another for my Palm device (T665, in case you couldn't guess)

Anyways, guess that's why Baskin and Robbins makes 31 flavors (I could never understand why anyone orders any flavor other then chocolate chip, but that's another story)

-jeremy

Of course Sony is making money off of the CLIE. It would be ludicrous to think that Sony would attempt to develop, design, and market a product without potential revenue coming in--they are a company like all the others. And the above statement about growth can clearly be read as keeping the CLIE division in the black.

Additionally, Memory Stick is NOT proprietary. True, Sony invented the format and is clearly leading in the push for its adoption, but there are close to 230 companies who have licensed the technology and at least 4 companies manufacturing it. Any one can license Memory Stick at any time. And MS gives several clear advantages over Compact Flash and Smart Media, such as keeping the contacts on the media from being exposed to finger oil and elements by way of a grating, and also putting the controller on the card--not on the device. This means that as devices change, they won't try to reformat or not recognize an older media card.

I hear a lot of people friping about the number of models coming out. I would take it as a good sign that a company is continually innovating and upgrading their products. How long has the curved bottom cheap plastic Palm look been around? A CLIE has a normal life expectancy of 4 months, like many other products out there. It just appears to be happening more rapidly lately, as the SL10, SJ20, and SJ30s have hit--all at a very natural time (back to school and pre-Christmas)--and to replace other products that have been out for a while now (T615, S360). I see total logic in this, and all it takes is a look at notebooks, desktop computers to understand the same: people want new things often.

As the proud owner of 2 CLIEs (S-series and N-series), I am planning on sticking with CLIE for the future--and I bet having the Palm OS 5 will enable Sony to do many things they have been waiting for: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, voice recording, etc. Just read up on Palm OS 5 and you will see what wil happen--it's no secret.

Or just go down to your local CompUSA or Best Buy to pick one up. They are in stores now.