US Sony Clie Developer Support to End

Posted By: Ryan Friday, November 12, 2004 10:09:16 AM

Following the announcement of their withdraw from the US Handheld market, Sony is getting ready to end all Clie developer support. At the end of the year Sony will completely end their US Clie developer support program and all related services.

In June, Sony revealed that they will not be releasing any new Clie Handhelds products in the coming fall. The company decided to suspend new Clie product development for the US and Europe while they reassess the direction of the conventional PDA market. Sony pledged to continue the same level of service and support for Clie handheld users and to honor all existing limited warranties.

However it because clear Sony would be a full withdraw from the US, after the company started to shut down developer support operations. The company has now make clear it will end all support at the end of the year. This includes shutting down the website that houses the specialized section for software and hardware developer SDKs, documentation and technical information used for programming and supporting Sony Clie features and models. Support in Japan will still continue.

Sony posted this announcement on their Handheld Developers site:

Sony Electronics Inc. hereby announces pursuant to the CLIÉ® Handheld Development Membership Agreement that the CLIÉ Handheld Developer Website and all related services shall terminate effective December 31, 2004. After this date, the CLIÉ Handheld Developer Website, Developer Tools, and related Services will no longer be available for use/download, and Sony shall provide no further support. Sony would like to thank to great number of dedicated developers who have supported the CLIÉ Handheld platform the past several years.

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I thought they will be back sometime, seems not now.

neuron @ 11/12/2004 2:39:35 PM #
I thought new clies will be out next year, looks like I was wrong this time. Without SONY, T6 will be like T5, with 512MB memory.

RE: I thought they will be back sometime, seems not now.
Toysoft @ 11/12/2004 4:05:33 PM #
what support??? i've have never gotten any reply to their developer support. Sony has the worst support of any others. They make great products but sucks in support.

RE: I thought they will be back sometime, seems not now.
DevPOV @ 11/12/2004 7:30:53 PM #
PalmOne isn't much better - try getting a developer question answered...

RE: I thought they will be back sometime, seems not now.
Strider_mt2k @ 11/13/2004 5:32:43 AM #
So much for the "Clie coming back" rumor the VZ release seemed to have started.



RE: I thought they will be back sometime, seems not now.
ocspub @ 11/13/2004 1:55:33 PM #
> PalmOne isn't much better - try getting a developer question answered...

Well, I recently tried (had a problem with Blazer 4.0's interpretation of a certain HTML tag), and I got a response in less than 24 hrs. I followed up, since I didn't like the answer ("it's not a bug"), and once again someone from PalmOne responded within a day and promised to bring it to the attention of the Blazer team. Not a bad experience. YMMV.

Oliver


Visit www.tapland.com for Zodiac news and discussion.

But will Sony give up the "other stuff" before they go?

Strider_mt2k @ 11/13/2004 5:24:51 AM #
I'm not a developer, but I've read where there are some key pieces of code or some stuff that Sony won't release that would make life much easier for those writing apps for the Clie, or at least for Clie compatability.

Any chance they'll produce this material in a gracefull and honorable parting gesture to their devoted Clie developers and fans??

I think this would be an excellent opportunity for Sony to step up and be a regular guy. ;)

'twould be nice!



The last great PDA?

adamsmark @ 11/14/2004 1:39:47 AM #
Can anyone say "Newton"?

Another great concept, gone.

Just as I thought

vesther @ 11/14/2004 6:46:33 PM #
Maybe Sony will now see how the US Handheld market will go to see what Americans really want out of a handheld. It seems that because Sony pretty much alienated the American PDA Market, they had no choice, but then, Sony might make a comeback. I think Sony is now gonna see the following:

* Whether or not to include a Camera with the comeback efforts for the US
* What kind of button layout us Americans desire
* The features that is important for the American Handheld Enthusiast Market
* The type of Operating System us Americans will use, hopefully, still will be Palm OS
* How much memory us Americans require
* Whether it's really a mistake using the Memory Stick scheme for their handhelds

And the list keeps going to see whether or not Sony will make a comeback, hopefully, Sony will see a handheld that will fit our needs in the future once they reassess their position in the Handheld Market.

I pledge to the Palm-Powered community that I will seek to make a better handheld through research one day!!!

RE: Just as I thought
kevspalm @ 11/15/2004 4:37:10 PM #
Unfortunately, it seems us Americans are going more to Big Bad Micro$oft. I hate that too, as I want to see healthy competition continue. But palmOne has lagged behind in innovation, and people want to be sure they can be compatible with their PCs. So off to Gates they go.

I sure hope palmOne will find the right leg to stand on to reinvigorate users. Soon!

----------------------------------------
Palm IIIx for 5 years & LOVING IT!

Sony's doing something better than coming back to PDAs

ricktd @ 11/14/2004 8:55:15 PM #
Sony can see that the market for high-end PDA form-factor devices will go to mini-PCs. PDAs will gradually phase out from the high-end down as people increasingly buy full-fledged Windows (and Apple and Linux) PCs the size of PDAs or slightly larger.

Sony is starting that process with their VIAO U-series, and will continue to increase the performance and lower the price of "handtop computers". Why buy software for your PC and also software for your PDA that's not nearly as capable? The only reason is to keep from having to lug around a laptop. Once the size and price advantages of PDAs go away, PDAs go away.

RE: Sony's doing something better than coming back to PDAs
dona83 @ 11/15/2004 1:37:44 AM #
Unless the Sony has instant on capabilities, it'll be too much of a hassle to use it as a main PDA. People mostly buy PDAs because of the PIM functions... where the handtop PC fails is that unless there is a way to synchronize data from that PC and your home PC, u'll have to maintain two seperate sets of data. I assure you that you would not want to use the handtop PC as a main PC, it'd be just too slow, and even if they up the CPU power, are they going to add enough 3D power for gamers who want it? At $2000USD which is what their Estimated MSRP is, it's not worth it. Let's not forget that usually when u buy software, especially ones that need activation, the license is for one computer only. Well I guess it's a start, let's see if people will make it more powerful and cheaper.

RE: Sony's doing something better than coming back to PDAs
Strider_mt2k @ 11/15/2004 6:32:01 AM #
One solution is to authorize software to be run on two computers.

Good luck on that one though. The software makers wouldn't want that I'll bet.

Sony knows handtop PCs are the future, not PDAs
ricktd @ 11/15/2004 7:57:29 PM #
PCs are perfectly capable of instant wake up; they don't need to be rebooted every few minutes. And having to maintain two sets of data and keep them sychronized is the problem with PDAs today, and it often doesn't work well because PDA software can only do some of what PC software can do. With handtops, you'll either synchronize data exactly (because the progams using the data will be identical) and thus your handtop and desktop will always back up each other, or you'll just hook up your handtop to the big monitor, keyboard and zip drive on your desks at home and the office. As for processing power, lots of people who don't care about 3D gaming get their work done just fine on older PCs that are slower than the handtops already on the market. And handtops will continue to get faster, better and cheaper just like laptops have.

As for one-computer-only software licenses, that doesn't stop millions of families from owning more than one PC or in most cases installing the software they buy on however many computers they own. If the software licenses were such a big problem, people with desktops at home or work wouldn't buy laptops.

Handtops are the wave of the future, and will ultimately replace not just PDAs, but laptops and desktops, as well. Sony's just smart enough to recognize that before the other PDA makers.


RE: Sony's doing something better than coming back to PDAs
ealvim @ 11/15/2004 9:02:37 PM #
ricktd, why don't you found www.handtoppcinfocenter.com and leave us alone?

THANK YOU!

chupem-me

RE: Sony's doing something better than coming back to PDAs
mikecane @ 11/16/2004 9:08:22 AM #
ricktd is right.

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