Symbian, NTT show broadband ‘concept’ device

Symbian and Japanese wireless giant NTT DoCoMo today demonstrated a 'concept model' wireless communicator based on Symbian's EPOC operating system. The device appears to have been designed with broadband wireless communications in mind, and in addition to standard organiser features is able to send and receive graphics. Symbian is the joint venture company set up by Psion, Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola last year to establish Psion's EPOC32 operating system as the standard for smartphones and communicators. Matsushita bought a stake in Symbian earlier this week, and Sony has been tipped as the next big name to vote for EPOC. The 'concept' device shown yesterday will bear some relation to the next generation Psion machines due for launch shortly (Wireless Psion due this summer?), but will be targeted more at the rollout of broadband wireless services. NTT DoCoMo claims 23.7 million subscribers in Japan, and holds key W-CDMA intellectual property which will be used in third generation wireless systems. Japan will also be going for third generation in advance of most of the rest of the world, so the DoCoMo-Symbian relationship is important. The two companies in March signed a memorandum of understanding to create joint R&D programmes for wireless communications technologies. The product shown today is based on one of Symbian's Device Family Reference Designs, which have been devised to make it simpler for companies to roll-out new products. ®