Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/05/26/wirelessenabled_psion_due_this_summer/

Wireless-enabled Psion due this summer?

If it's due in Japan in 2000, it's due in the West NOW...

By John Lettice

Posted in On-Prem, 26th May 1999 10:35 GMT

The sudden flurry of leaks concerning the Japanese market and Symbian, normally an extremely close-mouthed company, is easily explained. There's a combination Psion-Symbian roadshow happening in Japan, folks, and they're leaking like crazy. Symbian boss Colly Myers has been doing interviews in Tokyo, as indeed has Psion Asia-Pacific head Charles Cousins. On top of that the high command from Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola were around for yesterday's Matsushita announcement, so Tokyo was leak city. Myers doesn't seem to have blabbed directly, but Cousins promises a Japanese, upgraded version of the Psion Series 5 within the next 12 months. Crucially, he commits to it being sold in mobile phone shops as well as electronics stores, and says that in addition to the standard Psion built-in features will have Internet connectivity. Well leaked, Charles. That means a new Psion machine for Western markets rather sooner, and should also mean that some form of dual-track Psion/Symbian product rollout schedule will emerge. It is now, note, two years since the Series 5, and that's pretty much a standard Psion interval. So it'll be announced this summer. The Symbian aspect obviously has to relate, given that Psion and Symbian seem to be touring Japan in close concert. Matsushita opted for Symbian yesterday, while Sony is reported in today's Japanese press to be planning devices using Symbian's EPOC OS. That will be a particularly interesting development, as Sony has been close to Qualcomm, Microsoft's partner in the rival Wireless Knowledge operation. So a Sony deal would be likely to take Symbian into CDMA territory, and maybe closer to an understanding with Microsoft. ®