PMP Today

FSC, which stands for Fujitsu Siemens Corporation is bailing out of the PDA and PNA market. They are the makers of the Pocket Loox line, a Windows Mobile-based GPS and PMP device or PND, if you want to call it that, that used to pose a threat to the popular Mio GPS-PMP DigiWalker. The farewell statement coming from the company’s spokesperson Amy Flécher leaves a bad taste. Read an excerpt after the break.

[via engadget]

We made our decision due to the usual examination of the portfolios. It turned out that the traditional handheld segment (PDA) shrank for years and also many other manufacturers leave this segment. While the wireless handheld market grows fast, the PDA market moves on a very low basis with small volume. The trend is that the traditional handhelds are replaced by other devices such as PNAs or Smartphones. We will not invest into these product ranges.

Handhelds and handheld devices with push E-Mail-push will remain a niche market. In the future these services will be taken over by Smartphones - which is not our business at all. We observe that other manufacturers, that offer similar devices, have to fight with difficulties.