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THE ONE-MACHINE
Sharp's Color Zaurus is rapidly changing public's perception of the PDA
(personal digital assistant) as an overhyped dud. The spiffy one-pound
device successfully reads handwriting, surfs the Web, doubles as a digital
camera and transmits snapshots over the Internet. "There's never been
anything like it," says a Japanese retailer. Color Zaurus isn't available
in the U.S. yet, but in Japan, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and
Toshiba Corp. already are hurrying to develop look-alike devices. Sharp's
president predicts the market for PDAs such as Color Zaurus could go as high
as 100 million units a year. Meanwhile, JVC's Pocket Digital Movie camera
has already captured 40% of all camcorder sales in Akihabara, Tokyo's
electronic retailing bazaar. The world's smallest camcorder weighs in at
450 grams and can fit easily into a purse or coat pocket. (Business Week 25
Nov 96 p62)