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History
Founded on 17 July 1899, the Nippon Electric Company (NEC) was one of Japan’s leading manufacturers of electronic components. Over the decades the company expanded into mainframes (1950s), personal computers (1970s), and the home console market in 1987 with the PC Engine (released as the TurboGrafx-16 in North America and simply the TurboGrafx in the UK). The PC Engine hardware was developed in collaboration with Hudson Soft under the codename “C62 System.” The partnership continued with the later PC-FX and with numerous games for both systems.
Around the same time, Sharp surprised the market with a series of Personal Organizers that supported programmable expansion cards. These devices elevated the PDA concept and attracted many new consumers. Casio, previously the dominant maker of personal organizers, responded with its own expansion-card line beginning with the DK-5000. Seeing the growing popularity of electronic organizers, NEC decided to enter the market. As the maker of the highly successful PC-98 series of personal computers, NEC saw an opportunity to create a PDA that could interface directly with its desktop machines.
On this compatibility premise NEC began designing the PI-ET1 (standing for “Electronic Tool”). The goal was to produce the most powerful and versatile electronic organizer available. To develop the extensive built-in software, NEC again turned to Hudson Soft.
Release
Released in the first quarter of 1990 (sources also cite August 1990), the PI-ET1 was positioned for success. It featured a 160 × 64 dot-matrix LCD display, a built-in barcode scanner, a four-directional pad, and 32 KB of RAM that could be expanded via IC cards. The device used a Z80-compatible CPU (the µPD70008AC), the same processor found in NEC’s PC-88 series of desktop computers, which made third-party development relatively straightforward.
The PI-ET1 was the first electronic organizer to include a true BIOS/OS. Developed by Hudson Soft, the ET-BIOS supplied a wide range of functions, including a built-in 48,000-word dictionary, notepad, spreadsheet, world clock, password management, and contact list. An avatar editor even allowed users to assign a face to each contact. The BIOS exposed system calls for memory access, the barcode scanner, the file system, and other hardware features. Out of the box the device also included ET-BASIC, a Hudson Soft variant of the BASIC programming language that let users write their own programs directly on the organizer.
The PI-ET1 could connect to NEC’s PC-98 computers for file synchronization and program transfer.
Demise
Despite its advanced features, the PI-ET1 failed to meet expectations. NEC entered the electronic-organizer market late; Sharp and Casio had dominated the category since the early 1980s and already offered large libraries of IC cards. NEC released eleven IC cards in the days and weeks after launch—three RAM expansions, four dictionaries, and four games—but the software selection lacked breadth.
Marketing was also limited; the PI-ET1 often appeared only in the footnotes of store advertisements. Had NEC pursued more aggressive promotion and a steadier stream of expansion cards, the device might have gained stronger traction. Instead the company largely abandoned the PI-ET1 after it failed to generate the hoped-for interest and shifted resources to the later NEC Handy 98 (PC98HA), a DOS-based palmtop aimed exclusively at the Japanese market.
Games
Although the total software library was small, roughly half of the non-RAM cards were games. The PI-ET1 also predates the PC Engine GT (TurboExpress), making it NEC’s first portable device capable of running dedicated game software.
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| Sokoban 倉庫番 Riverhill Soft Model: RHET001 ¥7,000 |
Grand Strategy ET 大戦略ET System Software Model: SAET001 ¥7,000 |
Self-Centered 自己中心派 Game Arts Model: GAET001 ¥7,000 |
BLODIA ブロディア Hudson Soft Model: HCET001 ¥7,000 |
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| English-Japanese dictionary card NEC Model: PI-ET1-SC1 ¥8,800 |
Japanese-English dictionary card NEC Model: PI-ET1-SC2 ¥8,800 |
7 language conversation cards NEC Model: PI-ET1-SC3 ¥8,800 |
Japanese dictionary card NEC Model: PI-ET1-SC4 ¥16,600 |
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| 32KB RAM card NEC Model: PI-ET1-RC1 ¥10,000 |
64KB RAM card NEC Model: PI-ET1-RC2 ¥15,000 |
128KB RAM card NEC Model: PI-ET1-RC3 ¥20,000 |
Hardware specifications
- CPU: NEC µPD70008AC (Z80-compatible), switchable clock speeds (≈2.07 / 1.04 / 0.52 MHz) for power saving
- Display: 160 × 64 dot-matrix LCD (10 × 4 characters in 16×16 kanji mode or 26 × 8 in 6×8 alphanumeric mode)
- RAM: 32 KB standard (≈28 KB user area), expandable via battery-backed IC cards up to 128 KB
- Power: 2 × CR2032 for operation + 1 × CR1616 for memory backup; optional AC adapter and rechargeable battery pack
- Dimensions / weight: ≈150 × 90 × 19 mm, ≈270 g with batteries
- Built-in barcode reader supporting multiple standards