You have to hand it to Sony, if only for their unabashed confidence - which might just turn out to be over-confidence. How else to explain the company's remarkable pricing strategies?
Just when competition in the market for smart devices forces prices to new lows, Sony brings out a Ferrari. The company's most expensive handheld to date, the Sony Clie NZ90, will be released next month, with a starting price of US$800 (HK$6,240).
It's a price tag that even Sony's more loyal customers are likely to baulk at.
Over the past year, the price of personal digital assistants running Microsoft's rival Windows CE Pocket PC edition has plunged. It is easy to pick up a full-featured Pocket PC for under HK$2,000, and even the king of the heap, the new iPaq H5450, comes in at HK$1,000 cheaper than the new Clie.
The NZ90 is also more expensive than any of the current range of smart phones that blend PDA and phone functions. Palm's soon-to-be-released Tungsten-W, Treo's 270, the Pocket PC-based 02 XDA and the Orange Smartphone all come in at less than the NZ90.
Of course, when you buy a Ferrari, you expect something extra. And while Sony's new PDA lacks phone functionality, it does offer some unique features.
The camera has been improved, now offering what Sony calls 'effective two-megapixels'. What this means is that the CRT captures the image at less than two megapixels, but software automatically enhances it to up to 1600x1200 pixels. The camera also offers a choice of either manual or auto-focus and digital zoom - again, using software - and a built-in flash. This is a more useful addition than it sounds. Adequate lighting is a major problem for small digital cameras, and the flash will be a great help.