Sharp Linux PDA to debut at Java One
Sharp's upcoming Linux-based Zaurus PDA will be given its first
public outing next month at Sun's Java One conference, the
Japanese giant has said.
Java is the device's main programming language. Sharp hopes the
thousands of Java coders out there will rush to the device, write
software for it and allow the company to make good its promise to
have 10,000 apps for the PDA by the end of March 2002.
That, Sharp hopes, will allow it to make good its other pledge: to sell
one million of the devices in the same timeframe. Microsoft
announced this week that over one million PocketPC-based PDAs
had been sold since the platform was launched just over a year ago.
"We will call on global companies and engineers to work together
with us," said Hiroshi Uno, head of Sharp's PDA development
efforts.
Sharp, once the electronic organiser market leader, has fallen
behind of late, losing out to Palm. It hopes the Linux-based Zaurus
will allow it to recapture marketshare outside Japan, while a version
running the original Zaurus OS will -thanks to all those Java apps -
help it win back its dominance of the Japanese market.
