In a surprising move, Sony announced this morning that it has no inmediate plans to work on new PDA products for this fall which means that they will eventually exit the US and European handheld market.

The consumer electronics giant, which entered the PDA (personal digital assistant) market in the United States with its Clie in August 2000, plans to continue to sell Clies in Japan. But it will wind down production and exit the U.S. and European markets later this year, as it re-evaluates the handheld market, Sony spokeswoman Kelly Gaffney said.

Sony has been one of the biggest innovators in the PDA arena since the very beginning, however such a move shows the changes the market is going through and its pale future as other integrated devices such as smart phones take over.