From CBS MarketWatch
Psion's take: Get out of the office
David Levin, the chief executive of hand-held computer and software
maker Psion PLC, doesn't have a laptop and carries his palm-top
computer in his pocket.
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
pan-European Internet conference, Levin said he
believes executives need to learn how to unchain
themselves from their desks by taking more
advantage of hand-held mobile computing devices.
"We believe the Internet will go into the pocket and
this will have a dramatic impact on a number of
businesses out there."
Psion is best known for its major stake in Symbian
Ltd, a joint venture with Ericsson AB (ERICY:
news, msgs), Nokia Oyj (NOK: news, msgs),
Motorola (MOT: news, msgs) and Matsushita.
Along with developing software, Symbian has
developed the EPOC operating system technology
for smartphones and other devices. EPOC is
generally expected to become the industry standard
for these devices, but it's got competition from
Microsoft Corp., which has developed a competing
standard.
Levin believes that Symbian's EPOC will become the standard operating
system for these devices but does believe that Microsoft will strike back.
Anybody who "isn't threatened by Microsoft every minute of the day" isn't
paying attention to the marketplace, he said.
He believes Symbian will be the first-to-market and that the software is in
"pole position."
He said digital mobile phone penetration has gone further in Europe and
Asia than in the U.S. where PC usage is still highly popular. While the late
1990's have seen mass usage of mobile phones, 2000 to 2020 will see
high usage of wireless information devices and smart phones, he said. By
the year 2050, he said the market will see something called "e-shadow,"
which will sort out and select appropriate information and context aimed
at consumers' and businesses' needs. |
