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To: PartyTime who wrote (9562)	6/25/1998 3:47:00 AM
From: PartyTime	Respond to of 18444

More interesting news on how the Internet will develop: LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - When the mass market embraces the Internet it will use cheap and simple wireless mobile devices, not the personal computer. That was the bet made on Wednesday by Symbian, a group made up of three of the world's top mobile telephone manufacturers and a hand held computer maker. Telecommunications groups Nokia Ab Oyj of Finland and Ericsson AB of Sweden, U.S. semiconductor and telecommunications equipment maker Motorola Inc announced a link with Psion Plc of Britain. While Psion's shares exploded 52.75 percent on the stock market, analysts lauded the plan. Some said the venture, called Symbian, might challenge software superstar Microsoft Corp for leadership in enabling the communications devices of the future. Symbian is charged with exploiting Psion's operating system EPOC as an industry-wide standard for the next generation mobile communications and wireless information products. EPOC would be the brains behind a variety of devices, including advanced telephones, palmtop computers and electronic organisers providing wireless Internet access. Nokia and Ericsson paid 57.5 million pounds ($96.04 million) for their 30 percent stakes in Symbian, formerly Psion's software subsidiary. Psion retains a 40 percent stake. Motorola is expected to join the venture later with a pro rata equity stake. Enabling the coming information age presents a tasty target for information technology companies. U.S. technology consultancy IDC reckons there are three stages in the development of computers. The first started early in the 1970s when businesses automated basic systems -- the "back-office" stage. This resulted in spending of just over $50 billion in 1980 with about 10 million users. The second stage from 1980 until the present saw the computerisation of employee activities generally and created a market almost 10 times as big -- the "automation of the front- office and the field," according to IDC. The third stage dwarfs all the others as mass markets and households go on-line. This has already started, mainly in the United States and will result in worldwide spending of more than $5,000 billion by 2010, involving more than one billion computer users. This compares with roughly 100 million users now spending about $500 billion. The Symbian members are betting that mobile phones and pocket size devices can handle a big share of that market at the expense of the personal computer. An IDC report published this month backs up their judgment. "The PC's status as the dominant device in the access portion of the digital market place will splutter to an end within six years," the IDC report said. "PCs will be dwarfed by demand for digital consumer appliances that have built-in connectivity and cost relatively little," the report said. Psion Chairman David Potter reckons Symbian points the way. "The Symbian venture is a watershed deal for the industry and lays the foundation of growth from an entirely new market with a vast range of devices," Potter told Reuters. According to Psion, the number of mobile telephone users will surge to more than 600 million by 2002 from 200 million at the of 1997. Wireless information devices will account for 10 to 15 percent of the overall mobile telephone market. The Symbian venture is another joint effort by technology giants and rivals to develop universal technologies. Nokia and Ericsson were recently among the founders of the Bluetooth alliance for short-range wireless communication between electronic devices of all sorts, the first of which are expected to hit the market next year. And the Symbian deal protects Psion from being outflanked by Microsoft, according to analysts. "One of the concerns of Psion was certainly that they would be crushed by Microsoft and now they have some important players on their team," said telecoms analyst Douglas Smith at Salomon Smith Barney. Copyright c 1998 Reuters Limited.