As another indicator that the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) market is increasingly shrinking, Sharp Electronics has decided to withdraw its Zaurus SL6000, a Linux-based PDA, from the US. Without citing reasons for the change, the company said its PDA business would still continue in Japan.

 

Sharp's decision is the latest example of PDA vendors showing reservations about further cultivating the US market. Earlier in 2004, Sony also announced plans to discontinue sales and production of its Clie models, which run on Palm OS, while Toshiba confirmed a similar decision when releasing the e830.

 

For the home market of Japan, Sharp is expected to roll out the Zaurus SL-C3000 in November 2004. The model will be equipped with a 4GB HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and able to download music files from PC. Initial production volume will be 15,000 units per month.