The Sony Clie; Not for Everyone

Chances are when someone mentions Sony you may think of their television sets or famed Playstation game console series or the PSP individual gaming devices. But did you know that from 200 to 2005 Sony manufactured a product to compete with the other PDA devices out on the market at the time. The product was the Sony Clie.

Even though the success of the Clie proved that Sony could get into the market and be competitive, it would turn out not much later that the Clie was not a formidable competitor. As a result, in 2005, after pulling the line from North American markets and manufacturing only in Japan, Sony decided to completely stop the manufacture and sales of the Clie.

Before that time, the Clie brought its own unique style and design to the table of PDAs. Not focused so much on the PDA side, Clie was considered a noteworthy pioneer on the entertainment side and was aiming to make significant strides as a multimedia giant. The Sony Clie took video, photo and audio playback settings to another level before the Palm OS did. But perhaps it was the lack of focus on the PDA side that cause the Clie to lose momentum in both the US and Japan.

One of the major factors that may also have contributed to the Clie’s challenges is that manufacturer Sony never opted to make software for the Clie that was compatible with Macintosh OS. Eventually a HotSync process came about and through some connections it could be done but it was all but clear that the Clie was not designed for Macintosh OS. Given the numbers of dedicated, loyal MAC users, one can only wonder about Sony Clie’s lack of compatibility.

In the end, however, the lack of MAC could not have been the only factor influencing the decision to discontinue the Clie. It may have simply been a design challenge that forced Sony to pull the Clie from the North American markets. A glance at the design of the Clie Peg NZ90 opted for a flip top style that subsequently produced a smaller screen that in no ways compared to the large 4” beauties that Palm and Blackberry were putting on the market at the same time.

Many of the Clie series were fitted with the Motorola dragonball CPU in combination with the Palm OS versions 3.5 & all 4. Although not much mention is made of the dragonball CPU it is possible that this had some major impact on the North American market as well as Palm OS systems were standing alone or in concert with Windows Mobile and others. It is possible that the dragonball CPU sparked creative collaborations between some of the American-made produced and that the result forced the technology out of the market and eventually out of production.

Either way, we have the Sony Clie to thank for the brand of PDA that took the entertainment of that day and age and gave it that push.