Toshiba and NEC take to the PDA stage

Less than a week after UK firm Psion exited the handheld markets, competitors in Japan are lining up to take its place.

Yesterday electronics conglomerate Toshiba unveiled its first personal digital assistant (PDA), narrowly beating rival NEC to the post.

Toshiba's Genio handsets will be available next month while PC maker NEC expects to launch its offering in early 2002.

According to industry watcher IDC, there are currently 13.5 million handsets in the world. That figure is predicted to rise to 30 million by 2004.

However, how many manufacturers will be in the market by then is open to debate. Psion's decision to pull out of the sector last week and focus on providing businesses with digital network solutions was seen as an indication that the handheld market would be dominated by big players such as Microsoft, HP and Compaq.

Keith Woolcock, analyst at investment bank Nomura, told silicon.com at the time: "It's a good move, they've bitten the bullet. They're not big enough to compete in this market, I'm not even sure if Palm is big enough for this market.'"

The Toshiba Genio - which will be sold in the Far East first - measures five inches by three inches and will feature Microsoft's Windows Pocket PC operating system. It will also feature a 206MHz StrongArm Intel processor.