Sharp Corp said the introduction of new products will help lift sales of its hand-held computers 60 percent, meeting company forecasts.
"We haven't changed our goal" of Japanese Yen 8 billion (US$64 million) in sales for the year ending March 31, Hiroshi Uno, general manager in charge of Sharp's hand-held computer operations, said in an interview. The company in October cut its sales forecast for the devices from its April estimate of Japanese Yen 15 billion on lower-than-expected sales overseas.
The hand-held computer business dragged down group earnings last year, when sales of the devices fell almost 50 percent from the previous fiscal year. Two new products, which use the Linux operating system, should help lift sales when they are introduced Dec. 14 in Japan, Uno said.
The SL-C700 model opens like a notebook personal computer, with a keyboard and display inside. The display turns 180 degrees and can be folded down to cover the keyboard and used like a conventional hand-held computer.
The color screen, which measures 9.4cm diagonally, uses Sharp's most-advanced liquid-crystal display panel that can show smaller characters up to four times more clearly. The retail price is expected to be below Japanese Yen 60,000, the company said.
The SL-B500 is similar to its previous version, which has a keyboard hidden under a sliding cover below the screen, though it has a longer battery life.
Both products use Intel Corp's 400MHz XSCALE central processing unit, the part of the computer that executes instructions.
Osaka-based Sharp had group sales of Japanese Yen 901 billion last year and net income of Japanese Yen 11.3 billion.
Sharp is facing more competition after Dell Computer Corp entered the market with two new hand-held computers priced at less than US$199 and US$299, rather than the US$500 introduction price that's typical for the industry.
"We'll see more drastic price competition from now on," Uno said. "We can't beat [Dell and others] with price, so we'll have to introduce new products with advanced functions that other companies can't copy."
Sharp, the maker of Aquos brand flat-panel televisions is targeting notebook computer users with its new products, which allow Internet access and are compatible with Microsoft Corp's Word and Excel programs.
"I want PC users to switch to personal digital assistants, before PCs [become small and affordable enough to] invade the PDA market," Uno said.
RSS