Geoworks Bets on Cell Phones As Personal Digital Assistants
April 03, 2011
Geoworks Inc. is betting that the much-maligned personal digital assistant is about to become a commercially successful product, as a souped-up digital cellular phone. The software company, based in Alameda, Calif., makes a highly compact operating system for hand-held devices, such as electronic organizers and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s pocket-sized computers. But Graham Mcpherson, its chief executive officer, believes digital smart phones will be the PDAs of choice for the world's mass markets. The company will announce Monday the formation of an operating group, the wireless content and services division, that will package applications and information for distribution on cellular phones from the Internet and other sources. Geoworks and other companies, such as Apple Computer Inc. and General Magic Inc., have flopped in previous efforts to find a wide market for hand-held computers. ``We've had our nose bloodied,'' Mr. Mcpherson concedes. The products failed because they didn't do enough, didn't have high-speed networks for communications and cost too much. But all of that has changed with the development of the Internet and the spread of digital cellular networks in Europe, Japan and, next year, the U.S., Mr. Mcpherson asserts. The Internet and its graphical portion, the World Wide Web, provide a myriad of information and applications, while digital cell phones provide a high-speed data link, plus voice communications, at prices expected to start in the $1,500 range but rapidly dive to about $400 to $500. ``It's a matter of timing,'' Mr. Mcpherson says. ``People have written off personal digital assistants and other hand-held devices. The hardware and software wasn't there, and the Web wasn't there. The big difference is that it's all coming together now.'' With the Web, he notes, ``we don't have to develop a proprietary network.'' Digital cell phones can operate on the same protocol as the Internet, and therefore will be able to not only provide high-quality voice but links to the Internet for electronic mail, faxes, news headlines, stock quotes, sports tickers, travel and map information and a myriad of other services. Geoworks is providing the operating system for Nokia Oy of Finland, which expects to ship a smart phone this fall, and for AB L.M. Ericsson, which expects to ship early next year. The so-called personal handyphone service in Japan will offer a high-speed data link to the Internet by next summer. Geoworks is developing products for Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. and NEC Corp.. In the U.S., telephone and cable companies, plus some big start-ups, will next year begin building out digital cellular systems called personal communications services. Geoworks has an agreement to provide an Internet browser and other services to Pacific Bell Mobile Services, a unit of Pacific Telesis Group. ``We're working on a number of platforms (for PDAs), but we believe the smart phone is going to be the fastest and highest-volume market,'' Mr. Mcpherson says. He cites estimates that there will be 300 million cellular-phone subscribers by 2015, by which time manufacturers are expected to be shipping about 50 million digital cell phones a year. But demand for smart phones won't expand unless there are dozens of compelling applications. Geoworks expects its new division to fine tune information and applications for smart phones, and named one of its officers, Jordan Bloom, as vice president and publisher of the operation. Mr. Bloom, previously worked for Conde Nast Publications, a unit of Advance Publications Inc., and as a consultant on new publishing technologies. Mr. Bloom says the new group will enter into partnerships with electronic publishers, package content and services itself, and modify computer network applications such as electronic mail and conference calling to work with the operating systems and interfaces it provides phone manufacturers. He expects to announce deals with electronic publishers ``in the coming months.''
