Fujitsu enters crowded PDA fray

Fujitsu has plans to enter the already crowded handheld device market

By CNN's Kristie Lu Stout

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese electronics giant Fujitsu has personal digital assistant (PDA) ambitions in an increasingly crowded market.

The PC maker has plans to enter the handheld business by next year with a device engineered for both home and office use, company sources told the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

With a handful of other major Japanese and international electronics makers launching PDAs in Japan, market competition is set to heat up.

Fujitsu not alone

Fujitsu's handheld device will use Microsoft Pocket PC software to facilitate linkups with personal computers.

The company, eager to recreate itself as a software service company, will also develop software tailored to the needs of corporate customers.

But Fujitsu is not alone with its handheld aspirations. NEC, Toshiba, and Hitachi also have plans to launch PDA devices.

Currently, Sharp is Japan's PDA leader with 50 percent of the market, and plans to increase shipments by almost 50 percent to 500,000 units in fiscal year 2001.

Two months ago, Sony unveiled the upgrade of its CLIE personal digital assistant featuring audio playback, improved color display and longer battery life.

Palm Computing KK, the Japanese unit of the U.S.-based Palm, will also target Japanese corporate users with its handheld device.

Shares of both Palm and its U.S.-based rival Handspring plummeted on Thursday on concerns that a price war and surplus inventories would cut into revenues.

Research group IDC anticipates that four million PDAs will be sold in Japan in 2004, three times as many as in 1999.

Sony jazzes up its CLIE handheld
March 15, 2001
Review: A portable keyboard and HotSync cradle in one
Palm announces cell phone add-on
Sony targets Palm with $400 PDA

FUJITSU

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.