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Technology Stocks : Spyglass -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bobgh who wrote (1107)	10/13/1999 8:15:00 AM
From: Oska	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1412

Bill Gates has deep competitive concern for Psion's operating system. Teaming up with 3Com will make Psion even stronger and be a greater threat to Window CE and the work Spyglass has put into it. Fortunately, SPYG does not have all of its eggs in the CE basket, but this development is worth following. Too often I have heard that CE is too bulky for smaller devices and this article appears to confirm it. All my best, Osman. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Hand-Held Makers Palm, Psion Team To Fight Microsoft from Bloomberg News GENEVA (Oct. 13) -- 3Com Corp. and Psion Plc, the top two producers of hand-held computers, agreed to make their software compatible as they battle with Microsoft Corp. in the budding market for cellular phones that access the Internet. Psion already has backing for its software from the four biggest cellular phone makers through its Symbian venture. Now, Nokia Oyj, the largest, will be the first to make phones using 3Com and Symbian software to connect to the Internet. Within a few years, more people will surf the Web through wireless devices than PCs, a shift that may threaten Microsoft's position as the leading software maker, analysts said. By 2003, about 60 percent of cellular phones will be able to access the Internet, Nokia said. That's in addition to palmtop computers that will also offer online connections. ``Both Symbian and Palm are aiming for the same market,' said Juha Christensen, vice president of Symbian Ltd., in an interview. ``This take us one step closer to a global standard.' Symbian's Epoc software uses less power and memory than Microsoft's Windows CE, making it more attractive for smaller devices, analysts said. More for the Users The move by the two companies will allow software developers such as Sun Microsystems Inc. to make programs that function on both systems, increasing their popularity by boosting the range of services that can be offered through their software. It will let 3Com's Palm users, for example, who are able to buy merchandise from No. 1 online retailer Amazon.com Inc. and bid for items with auctioneer eBay Inc., to continue using such services even if they switch to newer phones. ``This is a win for the wireless industry overall,' said Alan Kessler, president of Palm Computing, in a statement. Nokia Oyj, Motorola Inc. and Ericsson AB joined Psion last June to create Symbian. Matsushita, which makes Panasonic phones, entered the venture this May, paying $35 million for a 9 percent stake in the venture. Together, they have two-thirds of the world's mobile phone market. Psion shares rose as much as 2.81 percent, while the FTSE 100 fell as much as 1.6 percent. In the last week, Psion shares have risen 34 percent on speculation the two companies would join forces. Oct/13/1999 6:03