Visto, the acquisition-hungry US firm, has bought Psion Software for an undisclosed sum. This will give it ownership of Psion's Transcend Mail, a push email/PIM product for mobile devices. The company is to integrate the technology into its portfolio of software for mobile operators.

California-based Visto has now bought three firms since raising $50 million in equity financing in the first half of 2003.

Psion Software was supposed to be a second revenue generator for Psion, joining Psion Teklogix, the PDAs-for-warehouses-and-carpark-attendants business, to keep the company afloat until the long-expected Symbian royalties start flooding in.

So what will Psion do with this undisclosed sum? It has two choices: use it for corporate expenses, or pump it into Symbian, the smartphone OS invented within Psion and in which it is a major shareholder. ®