Sharp and Apple join forces for first PDA

In yet another signal that the lines between the personal computer and consumer electronics industries will continue to blur, Apple and Sharp Corp. announced in late March that they will be partners in developing the first Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) in the category of personal information products.

PDAs — a term coined by Apple chairman John Sculley in January to describe hand-held information devices — will combine the best of consumer electronics’ digital miniaturization technology and Apple’s software expertise with graphical user interfaces.

PERSONAL, NOT CONSUMER, ELECTRONICS

The deal between Apple and Sharp is the first publicly announced evidence of what’s known to be a veritable whirlwind of activity in Apple’s newly formed Personal Electronics division.

Apple is hoping that the new device, whatever it may be, will be a successful foray into what it calls the “personal electronics” market, as opposed to the more widely used term “consumer electronics.” The upcoming crop of PDAs are likely to be at least as widely adopted in business environments (and probably more) than they will be by down-home consumer types, especially at first.

PDAs also signal a new business strategy for Apple, a strategy that means abandoning its proprietary stance. Sculley has said that Apple will license its software technology in the 1990s — following Microsoft Corp.’s successful model — to a variety of manufacturers, most notably Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers.

APPLE SOFTWARE BENEATH THE SCREEN

What that means, according to Sculley, is that beginning in 1993 you’ll see Apple not only manufacturing Apple-label PDAs, but Apple software driving non-Apple label devices –devices that will instead be sold under the hardware manufacturer’s brand name.

In an interview with a California business magazine last month, Sculley summed up his goal for this new open licensing strategy: “You’ll see many different companies selling [PDA-like] devices, but what we want is when you turn it on the first thing you see is an Apple logo.”

Bearing both labels. According to a Sharp spokesman, the Apple-Sharp PDA will be branded with both companies’ labels. It is expected to make its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in late May.

Due in 1993, it will, according to industry reports, contain a RISC processor, a HyperCard-like interface that is driven by a pen and include personal information applications such as an address book, to-do list and notebook. It will have a 3-by-5-inch LCD screen and an infrared link to the Macintosh serial port.

In what may or may not be unrelated news, Apple announced that starting this month Sharp’s Japanese subsidiary, Sharp Systems Products, will be a distributor of Macintoshes in Japan.

Connie Guglielmo