While fans of the Psion series of PDAs and palmtop computers have hailed the devices as the future of handheld computing, the Psion systems have caught on mainly in Europe, with the European market favoring a clamshell design and a thumb keyboard for its PDAs. However, Psion Teklogix — a division of parent company Psion PLC — hopes to change this bias with the NetBook Pro, a task-oriented mobile computing device aimed at the laptop market and designed specifically with business users in mind.
Since 1998 I have spent over NZ$500k developing a database back office system to support a WAP directory application (http://wap.asklocator.com) using the EPOC OS for Psion Series 7 and Netbook. I was stunned at Psion and/or their marketeers opting for Windows CE exclusively for their Netbook Pro. EPOC is a very stable and reliable platform and a pleasure to develop software for using OPL. I very definetly want an EPOC option for the new Netbook. If not I am forced into major redevelopment or abandoning the project.
It is my understanding that, although Psion owns a portion of Symbian, they do NOT have much input in what Symbian does. ER6 (and all future releases) are targeted towards cellphones ONLY. Psion didn't abandon Symbian, Symbian abandoned Psion. ER5 was the last version with support for PDA-type devices and was severely limited when it came to supporting the new technology incorporated in the netBook Pro/netPad. Psion had two choices - take over total development and support of ER5 (Psion does not have the resources for that), or look for another OS. Having said all that, I agree that it would be the cat's meow (or is it pajamas) if there was support for more than one OS.
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Psion’s NetBook Pro Abandons EPOC in Favor of Windows CE
Posted by: Kirk L. Kroeker October 3, 2003 02:12 PMWhile fans of the Psion series of PDAs and palmtop computers have hailed the devices as the future of handheld computing, the Psion systems have caught on mainly in Europe, with the European market favoring a clamshell design and a thumb keyboard for its PDAs. However, Psion Teklogix — a division of parent company Psion PLC — hopes to change this bias with the NetBook Pro, a task-oriented mobile computing device aimed at the laptop market and designed specifically with business users in mind.
Having said all that, I agree that it would be the cat's meow (or is it pajamas) if there was support for more than one OS.