JupiterResearch: Sony's Beans Not Magical

Nate Elliott posts at the Jupiter Analyst Weblogs about the demise of the Sony Bean. He mentions he wrote last summer that the Bean and Samsung's YP-U1 might give the Apple iPod Shuffle "a run for its money." He notes that "neither has really made waves, and now Sony has decided to pull the Bean." Regarding the Sony bean, Elliott writes:

I remembered my one chance to actually see the Bean up close, in the Sony both at Apple Expo in Paris in September. The screen, tiny and precariously perched on the side of the device, was very difficult to read, and the relationship between the screen and buttons seemed off. I flipped through my notes from that show, and sure enough found my one-line take on the device: "I don't love the Sony Bean, but the Network Walkman is nice."

Elliott still holds out some hope for the YP-U1. He concludes that the "YP-U1 form factor is good, nav not perfect but still nice to have. So, in the unlikely event that my opinion represents the mass market, maybe the YP-U1 has still got a chance."