SIEMENS/CASIO MAKE MOBILE INTERNET UNITS
December 28 1999
German Technology And Engineering Group Siemens And Japan'S Casio Computer Co On Wednesday Joined The Rush To Make Sophisticated Mobile Data Devices.
Siemens and Casio said in a statement they would together develop, manufacture and market a new generation of Windows CE-based devices with multimedia, wireless Internet, mobile phone capabilities and hi-color touch-screens.
Only a week ago, U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp teamed up with Swedish mobile telecoms leader Ericsson in a mobile data venture, using Microsoft's Mobile Explorer browser but not exclusively its own Windows CE operating system.
A working prototype of the Siemens-Casio venture -- a palm-size PC able to play digital music and video, access e-mail and the Internet and work as a mobile phone -- would be on show in February next year at the CeBIT trade show in Germany.
"This product is the first of an anticipated complete range of wireless Internet devices that will be capable of connecting wirelessly to Microsoft Exchange Server-hosted information and any wireless Internet and e-mail service,'' they firms said.
Casio and Siemens aim to capture a significant slice of wireless Internet access devices, a market they say is estimated to reach 15 million units by 2003.
Symbian Keeping Powder Dry
Analysts honed in on the fact that Siemens and Casio had chosen the Windows CE operating system for its venture.
They said Symbian -- whose EPOC operating system has the stronger position in mobile devices -- is not courting new licensees until the latest version of the system is released and that is opening a gap for rivals like Microsoft's Windows CE.
"Once ER6 (the new version of the EPOC operating system) is launched in the second quarter of next year you can expect to see Symbian licenses being marketed more aggressively,'' Ian Burgess, telecoms analyst at CSFB, told Reuters.
The Psion-led Symbian alliance also includes Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia of Finland and Japan's Matsushita.
The Siemens-Casio device will initially work on GSM networks but has the potential to work on so-called Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks and will also be able to use high bandwidth mobile radio standards, starting with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and moving on to IMIT-2000 and UMTS.
This will give users fast Internet access, video stream and large file messaging, Siemens and Casio added.
The companies stressed the agreement to develop the as yet nameless product would not detract from their individual plans for other communications and information products.
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