Hitachi
Hitachi is world famous for its camcorders but also for the mobile phones it manufactures. Seeing that the company is such a serious player in the consumer electronics market, it was only a matter of time before Hitachi would also enter the race of selling the best PDAs money could be. Thus in 2002 the consuming public was not surprised to hear the announcement Hitachi made which elaborated on the new technology it would be putting out, and which also revealed the client group for whom the new technology was mostly designed and to whom it would be marketed first and foremost.

The 2002 announcement specified a Hitachi product that would become part and parcel of the corporate makeup. As such, it could run Hitachi PDA ballistic software as easily as it could support Hitachi PDA medical software and games. Relying on an Intel microprocessor, this little device was to not only permit users to surf the Internet, but also give abilities for accessing intranets that are most often company based and proprietary. When away from the home office, it is these intranets that provide information to the executives that are not found anywhere on the Internet.

Hitachi liked to point out that this PDA would not be a stand alone product, but would eventually end up with plenty of peripherals to expand use as needed, and to also allow as many different businesses and individuals to take advantage of this technology. Attachable Hitachi PDA batteries would severely stretch the amount of time that the system would be usable, while Hitachi PDA programs available via free download not only added value to the little gadget, but they also increased the popularity since there are many shareware sites that not only offer wonderful programs, but in addition to doing so also permit for an increase in functionality.

Yet in spite of the favorable rumors that surrounded the announcement, in the backrooms of the company the executives were doubtlessly nervous. While they had created a great product with a 240 x 320 pixel display and built in LAN modem, the competition that would be nipping at its heels the moment the product left the factory was not only equal by comparison, but also more reasonably priced. Considering therefore the fact that today’s market does not seem to be overly flooded with this brand of PDA, it is safe to assume that success was not as global as the creators might have hoped.