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Sony made headlines last summer when it informed the world it would stop selling Clié handhelds outside of Japan. A couple of months later the company followed through on that promise with the introduction of the feature-packed Clié PEG-VZ90 (see top image) for the Japanese market only.

Today, Sony said it would discontinue to manufacture all Clié handhelds, turning the PEG-VZ90 into final Clié period. The electronic giant's last Clié for worldwide consumption was the PEG-TH55, released in February 2004.


PEG-TH55

The discontinuation of Sony's vaunted handheld line marks a significant milestone in the transformation of the handheld market. As PC World reports, the company plans to focus on Playstation Portable (mobile games and entertainment) and smartphones (combining the personal information management and processing capabilities of a PDA with the voice functions of a cell phone) moving forward.

Currently, Sony develops and markets handsets with Ericsson under the Sony Ericsson banner. The most well known Sony Ericsson smartphones includes the Symbian and UIQ interface based P800 and P900 series.

These devices feature tablet form factors and touchscreen interfaces, with the most recent model, the P910 placing a QWERTY thumb-keyboard beneath its keypad.


P910

Times Past
Sony launched the original Clié, the PEG-S300, back in 2000 to compete with then king of the hill Palm (now palmOne and PalmSource) and its flagship product, the Palm V. Sony proceeded to release close to 20 additional Clié models over the next few years, far more than any other Palm OS vendor, including Palm/palmOne itself.

As the most adventurous of handheld manufacturers, the company helped drive competitors like palmOne and Hewlett-Packard to new heights with innovative devices.

For example:

The VZ90 is the first handheld to feature an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display. A type of screen used in the past for smaller secondary screens in digital cameras, for example, but never in a PDA. OLED displays deliver more vivid colors in a package that is lighter, thinner, and more energy efficient than with screen traditional technologies.

An earlier instance of innovation arrived with Clié NR series close to two and half years ago. These models revolutionized the way one used a PDA with their built in keyboards, larger screens, and unique hinged design that allowed the keyboard to rotate in and out of tablet position. The PEG-NR70V was also one of the first PDAs to integrate a digital camera.