Earlier this past spring, I attended a mobile computing conference where a Motorola representative stated that he did not feel Windows CE had been much of a success since seven of the world's leading manufacturers had only managed to sell 500,000 WinCE-based handheld personal communicators. That poor fellow immediately became tortured prey for a plethora of WinCE supporters in the audience who reacted to his statement as excitedly as a pit bull in a meat locker.

Having seen that outburst, I'm a bit wary of sticking out my neck on the same issue, but here goes: I agree. I don't consider WinCE an unmitigated success, and the operating system has a long way to go before it meets its promise of ubiquity in a broad range of devices. I am particularly interested in Microsoft's long-stated desire to make WinCE the basis for a new generation of smart wireless phones that combine communications with organizing and rudimentary computing capabilities.

I acknowledge that I am not an engineer, but I've had more than enough members of that profession explain to me that WinCE requires too large of a memory footprint, is not scaleable enough and requires the devices it's installed in to consume excessive battery power. This might be termed the "jelly donut syndrome," because it appears that using WinCE in some product platforms is akin to a being served a big, gooey, high-caloric treat when a simple slice of bread would have been more suitable.

Now, however, Microsoft has gained a very viable competitor in the wireless arena. Enter Symbian Ltd., the brainchild of Britain's handheld computer maker Psion joined with Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia - which are the world's top three wireless phone manufacturers and control a combined 75 percent market share in the areas they serve.

Why Symbian?
Through Symbian, which was code-named Church Three during top-secret discussions, the phone vendors will take partial ownership in Psion's EPOC32 OS. The mission is to make EPOC32 the de facto standard for a range of smart wireless communicators. Other phone makers, such as EPOC32 licensee Philips, are said to be considering whether to join the Symbian club.

Of the three wireless veterans in Symbian, only Nokia has a smart phone product—the 9000 Communicator—on the shelves, and sales have been less—some say considerably less - than 150,000 units. That device is based on the GEOS OS from Geoworks. Ericsson is also a GEOS licensee and reportedly has had several smart phone prototypes nearly ready for market, but has not had a device that it felt was perfectly ready for the plunge into commercial sales. Meanwhile, Motorola has shown several versions of its MAP smart phone but also has kept the device in prototype stage. (However, retail shelves are slated to greet Philips' EPOC32-based Accent, an add-on device in September. Accent snaps onto Philips' Trapeze PCS 1900 phone to provide capabilities such as wireless faxing, Internet access, and messaging as well as basic organizer functions.)

The biggest benefit that Symbian may offer is that the venture pledges to let EPOC32 licensees customize the OS to meet their products' needs, allowing considerable flexibility in product design and applications. Microsoft, you might recall, is requiring its WinCE licensees to deliver a common interface and even similar hardware designs across product platforms.

Now, Psion's strength in the handheld computer market is certainly moot these days. Psion admits its sales have suffered due to WinCE product competition, and the British company has only sold 250,000 of its Series 5 devices, which are based on EPOC32. But if you consider that 500,000 WinCE units divided by seven works out to little more than 70,000 devices per manufacturer, then little old Psion and its 250,000 sales don't look too shabby by comparison.

While WinCE products have expanded to include products such as PalmPilot competitors and, soon, mini-notebooks, it's more questionable than ever whether the Redmond giant's reign will extend to wireless phones. Bill Gates, et al, have stated that wireless is a market they want, but the company still has not made much of a dent. It may be a matter of focus: Microsoft has a lot of likely markets into which it can aim WinCE, and wireless will always represent a pea-sized interest compared to the other possible products that can be developed. Psion, on the other hand, has long had more than a passing interest in wireless. Psion founder and Chairman David Potter (Psion is a reworking of the words "Potter Scientific Instruments") tried in vain two years ago to buy out Danish wireless phone maker DanCall by taking over its parent company Amstrad. And Potter early on envisioned future profits from the convergence of wireless communications and handheld computing.

I'm not counting out the deal-making wizards in Washington state, however. If the predicted 200 million wireless handsets ship globally in 2001 and 10% to 20% of them carry some sort of smart OS, then Microsoft would be wise to find a way to enter the market. And I see no reason why, for example, Microsoft couldn't put aside its ego and create a venture similar to Symbian through which it could capture the wireless smart phone market. But the die has been cast, and it's up to Microsoft to duplicate or better it.

Busy batwings By the way, besides entering the Symbian alliance, Motorola also announced a definitive agreement to acquire Starfish Software. Motorola already had an equity investment in Starfish, which is best known for creating the technology behind the REX PC Card organizer. I predicted this relationship would go further in my post-Comdex column last winter as I could tell these two companies were totally enamored of each other (and yes, I'm still totally enamored of my REX card, though I suggest carrying a paper backup of any schedules you have on one, just in case the battery runs out on the road). Motorola pledges the acquisition will lead to a new generation of wireless devices that exchange information with each other as well as with PCs, the Internet, and wireless service providers.

But Motorola has been doing more than just throwing around its money. Among a plethora of new wireless products unveiled by the company in mid-July was the SP1300, a so-called smart pager that includes organizer features such as a telephone book, calendar, and to-do list. The SP1300 works on one-way paging networks using Motorola's FLEX technology. The pager has a built-in infrared port for PC connectivity. Installation of FLEX PC Partner software on a desktop is encouraged to allow easier display, navigation, and data entry as well as data printing.

A new pager for ReFLEX-based networks such as SkyTel's that offer confirmed message delivery also launched. The PF1500 Word Message Pager is smaller and lighter than earlier models and allows two-way messaging via the Internet using canned and multiple-choice responses.

Motorola also removed the wraps from its long-awaited phone for the North American Code Division Multiple Access market. Model ST7760, based on the StarTac design, works on CDMA-based digital cellular networks and also has an analog mode that allows it to work on any North American cellular network for roaming purposes. A sister model for use on Time Division Multiple Access-based digital cellular networks (such as those operated by AT&T Wireless) and analog networks was introduced at the same time. These 800 MHz-band phones will not work on PCS networks, which operate at 1.9 GHz. However, Motorola promises a 1.9 GHz version of the CDMA phone in early 1999 and a dual-band 800 MHz/1.9 GHz TDMA phone is slated for introduction in 1999's second quarter.

Further, Motorola unveiled a palm-size handset for use on iDEN networks such as Nextel's. The i1000 phone still includes iDEN features such as digital phone service, two-way radio and alphanumeric paging. The company also brought out a pager and portable phone that will operate on the Iridium satellite network, slated for commercial operation in September.

Wireless news snippets Now for some brief items of interest. First, wireless Internet and intranet service provider GoAmerica Communications Corp. has acquired the ZAP-IT business from DTS Wireless, which was started by certain founders of what was RAM Mobile Data and is now BellSouth Wireless Data. ZAP-IT services were designed to allow mobile professionals, ISP subscribers, and corporations to wirelessly access email, corporate messages, and the World Wide Web, as well as communicate with faxes, pagers, and telephones. ZAP-IT services will be integrated into GoAmerica's Web@Hand portfolio of wireless web-based services, which are based on Bellcore's AirBoss wireless messaging platform, Unwired Planet's UP.Link Server Suite for smart phones, and Fourelle's Venturi compression server. GoAmerica notes its applications work with standard web browsers and already run on the BellSouth Wireless Data network as well as Cellular Digital Packet Data Networks, Ardis, and certain digital cellular and PCS networks.

Hackensack, N.J.-based GoAmerica also recently secured $3 million in financing led by New York-based Zackfoot Investments L.L.C. The $3 million was termed the first of a multi-stage financing for GoAmerica. Funds are earmarked for sales and marketing, subscriber growth and strategic acquisitions.

Meanwhile, in mid-July, PageNet, the nation's largest paging operator, inaugurated nationwide roaming service for its local or regional subscribers who don't want to pay for full-time nationwide roaming. These subscribers can transfer their paging service from market to market or region to region as needed. The new service lets subscribers call their PageNet mailbox and enter a geographic code to instantly receive messages in one of 66 markets or five regions. Nationwide roaming is available with both numeric and word messaging.