Bloomberg News reports that Sharp Electronics, which leads Japan's market for handheld electronic organizers, has said it will challenge Palm and Microsoft on their home turf by introducing a device running Linux . . .

“Osaka-based Sharp will be the first major maker of PDAs to introduce a Linux OS-based PDA, said Hiroshi Uno, general manager of the company's mobile systems division, in an interview. The new models will be available in the United States and Europe from October, he said.”

“Sharp's PDAs, which run its proprietary Zaurus operating system, face competition in the local market from Palm OS handhelds made by Palm, Handspring and Sony. Last year, Microsoft introduced its Pocket PC technology. By going abroad, Sharp hopes to boost sales and to create a market for Linux-based devices.”

” 'Now that we are putting up a banner that we will go with the Linux operating system, we hope others will join,' Uno said. 'Our aim is for Linux-OS PDAs to grab about half of the market.'

“Sharp said it hopes to sell 1 million units globally of the Linux handheld in the year ending March 2002. That's about the same as the company's estimate of the Japanese PDA market for the current year to March 31.”

“Why Linux? Sharp, which has had little presence overseas while using a proprietary operating system, picked Linux because of the open code, which enables Sharp to have more freedom in designing instructions and programs for users, Uno said.”

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