Sony to end Clie production despite all hope

[Alexander Turcic]

Despite recent rumors that Sony might be releasing a successor model of the TH55 soon, it now appears that Sony's long-term plans are to shut-down the Clie production. Our friends at 1src write:

Impress Watch has an article that says Sony will stop producing the Clie after July 2005. They will continue to provide parts and repair services until six years after the last production. Clie support desk will stop service after 1 year and support and repair will continue to be provided by the Vaio Customer Support Center after that. Clie related software sales and network services will continue for the time being.

With today's announcement, Sony is officially pulling the plug on Clie platform. However, according to the article in Impress Watch, Sony commented that "although the Clie platform has come to an end, we will continue to work on the 'entertainment oriented
mobile information devices' concept". No one can tell what this statement means. It can be that they will develop more services and functions on devices like the Playstation Portable or mobile phones or perhaps we can dream of Sony is preparing a new genre of
mobile devices. Whatever it is, the Clie platform that we have come to know and enjoy in the last 4 years has come to the end of its journey.

More at Impress (Japanese).

[Alexander Turcic]

Reuters newsflash: Sony to withdraw from personal digital assistants.