Sony abandons eVilla

NEWS Sony has decided to stop selling its eVilla internet appliance, which was launched in July, because the product failed to live up to expectations. A Sony spokesman said the product fell short of the company's initial expectations with regard to usability and stability, and neither the software nor the hardware were up to standard. The company said customers who have purchased the device will receive full refunds. The product cost $499 and ran Be's BeIA operating system - now obsolete. The Sony eVilla was designed to give users access to emails, news reports and websites, and to allow them to download multimedia content such as video clips and streams from internet radio stations.