Sharp and Danger, Inc. Agree to Collaborate in Wireless PDAs for North America and Europe

The North American and European markets have seen an increasing number of mobile phones with PDA functions targeted at business users. Anticipating such trends, Danger, Inc. developed hiptop®(*2), a wireless all-in-one device. Released in October 2002, the product proved popular among young urban adults who surf the Internet wirelessly every day.

To meet the expected rapid increase in demand for wireless PDAs, the two companies will jointly develop wireless devices with communication functions by combining Danger, Inc.’s superior software with Sharp’s one-of-a-kind technologies built up through years of development in personal information tools.

As a first step, Danger, Inc. will develop software and a hardware reference design(*3) for a successor model of hiptop®, which the company released in October 2002, while Sharp will support the design and development of hardware, then produce and sell the new hiptop® to wireless operators.
Sharp plans to design and develop new wireless devices that work seamlessly with Danger, Inc.’s enhanced software and server services(*4).

*1 Danger, Inc.: A US company established in January 2000. Besides offering data communication services, Danger, Inc. develops software and hardware compatible with such services, and sells these to wireless operators.
http://www.danger.com/
*2 hiptop®: A trademark of Danger, Inc.’s wireless all-in-one devices with voice and data communication functions over GSM and GPRS networks.
Besides telephony, hiptop® allows e-mail, chatting, Internet surfing, and picture-taking with an optional camera, and also has an address book, scheduler, and games. A constant connection with the server operated by Danger, Inc. through a GPRS data network allows hiptop® users to link to PCs for real-time data communication.
*3 Reference design: In general, product design information that parts manufacturers (using their own parts) give to application product manufacturers. There are various levels of reference design: some are merely for reference, while others are of an advanced enough level to allow a manufacturer to mass-produce if it follows the reference design exactly.
*4 Server service: Danger, Inc.’s solution service offered to wireless operators with hiptop®. The end user’s hiptop® is constantly connected to the server controlled by Danger, Inc. so that the end user can enjoy real-time chatting, e-mail, and Internet, and can download content and applications (either free or for a fee), created by developers, from Danger, Inc.'s server.

The original press release can be found here.