Interested in any feedback reference recent rise in PON share price, seems to doing nicely at moment.

Psion closed today up 4.3% and has been in bullish trend since mid Nov03 following a low after profit taking where the share price has risen 26%.

However, this is only part of a long-term bullish trend with 3G / SymbianOS and where the share price is now up nearly 300% since Oct02 and the aftermath of the dotcom bubble bust when Psion share price was at low of 34p. But will this growth continue?

Well IMHO because of Vodaphone, Orange, MMO2, T'Mobile amoungst the host of other mobile telecoms and telematics operators need for content, 3G networks phones & PDA shipments with SybianOS GUI will escalate and Psion's share price will reflect this. I would not be to surprised if it reached 200p during 2004 if this trend continues.

Nokia purchases Psion's 31.1% stake in Symbian.

Any views on what effect this news will happen with Psion's share price! Looks like it is about to head north and is up before open 4.4%.

In less than 7minutes of open - first of all up 4.4% and now dropping like a stone?

This morning's rise didn't last. It now going south like a ton of brick!!!

Symbian is going to be a loser it is up against Microsoft which is up against Linux in the mobile market.

They were right to sell Symbian but the question is where do they go from here?

Lets hope directors know something we don't!!

Looks like Psion hasn't got it to be a world-class player. A great shame, they led in a number of technology areas but seem to have lost the will to live.

I don't agree that losing to Microsoft is inevitable, Microsoft have made a real mess of their phone platform, IMHO. Symbian OS plus Java on the Sony-Ericsson P800/P900 by comparison is a great software platform for corporate application developers.

The only 3G operator, "3" has locked their Symbian phones so that only "3" approved apps can be loaded to them. Another marketing department in a phone company with its head up its *rse, par for the course.

Naturally, all IMHO.

MightyMicro

But Linux is free so not even Microsoft is going to be a sure thing in mobiles.

Even PSION itself is using Linux & Microsoft s/w

February 10, 2004

Tempus

Take a second look at Psion's sale of its Symbian stake
By Robert Cole

AT FIRST sight Psions decision to sell its 31 per cent stake in Symbian, the mobile phone software firm, looks like a disastrous move. It also appears as if Psion has let the only thing that it has of value, and the only thing that can generate long-term returns, slip through its fingers. Since shares fell 32 per cent, it also seems that Psion has sold out for a woefully disappointing price.

But at second glance Psions decision to sell its Symbian shares does not look quite so odd. Nokia, the mobile handset maker that bought the stake, is and was in effective control of Symbian. It is also a key customer. The risk, therefore, is that Symbian feels obliged to supply products more cheaply than an investor such as Psion would like. Equally, if Nokia did not get the Symbian goods it requires at a price it was prepared to pay, it might seek other suppliers, or develop the kit in-house.

At second sight it also seems as if the market mispriced the value of Psions stake in Symbian. The proceeds from the disposal secured by Psion yesterday were significantly ahead of the value implied last October, when another smaller parcel of Symbian shares was sold.

At second sight Psion might also be seen to be getting out of Symbian while the going is good. At present, Symbian is widely used in new generation smart phones that enable users to access the internet, among other whizzy things. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, however, most of the worlds handsets may be coming out of China. Those manufacturers might use Symbian technology. But there must be a significant risk that they will use something else. Microsoft perhaps? And if the Chinese do use Symbian kits, the unit prices achieved could be feeble.

Without the distractions that Symbian creates, Psion is able to focus attention on its other business. Teklogix is not nearly as exciting as Symbian. But it may not be nearly as risky either. Unlike Symbian it is also profitable at present. Results due on March 2 will give investors a better idea of Teklogixs prospects but the most recent evidence suggests there is growth here.

Subtract the cash on Psions balance sheet and the money it will receive from the Symbian sale from the depressed market capitalisation, and Psion might be seen to be trading on a multiple of earnings before tax of about 15. Buy.

http://www.kewney.com/articles/040209-psion.html

Interesting read, maybe they aint so dumb after all?!!

DSTOREY9916

As I said, they made the right decision.

IMHO they got out of Symbian before it turned to dust & they got a load of cash for it.


MightyMicro

It may be "a great software platform" but being the best is not always enough.

It would have been enough if it had been so far ahead that choosing it was essential but it's not.

Now that Nokia control it, I guess that other mobile companies may want to pull out & are already considering Linux.

Microsoft is going to have a hard time against Linux in the mobile market because it can't undercut a price of zero.

apple: you are falling into the trap of assuming that software (such as Linux) is free. There is no such thing as a free lunch. There may be no license fee associated with Linux, but there is still a price.

Who is going to port it to your platform, integrate it with your architecture, debug it, support it, and be answerable for it?

MightyMicro

A company using it would port it for itself, this is a non recuring cost & a small one at that.

Support, everybody needs to do that & that is a level playing field.

The advantage of going to Linux is no up front cost for a licence & no RECURING cost for each unit sold.

Microsoft will fight against Linux & even with its deep pockets may not win so I would certainly not bet on Symbian even though it has now got the total commitment of Nokia.

The sw industry will gravitate towards a standard & now that Nokia own Symbian, rivals will have greater incentives to move to something else.

Psion themselves have moved on to Linux & Microsoft, they have seen the writing on the wall.

As I said earlier, Psion seem to have lost the will to live. They are destined to become a Microsoft distributor, and like all such before, will fade in significance as they become part of Bill's channel.

And where is the successful track record of any platform vendor making a fist of using Linux? I'm watching two of them making a complete cods of it right now.

Like you said:

"The only 3G operator, "3" has locked their Symbian phones so that only "3" approved apps can be loaded to them. Another marketing department in a phone company with its head up its *rse, par for the course."

"3" is making complete cods of the Symbian platform too.

I hope that Bill doesn't win.


Psion, however, could become a winner if they are changing direction.

They are profitable & have got cash, what will they do with it?
We will have to see what their plans are.

If they stand still then you will be right, they will fade & lose the will to live.

At least now, they have got a chance but it is too early to say buy.

Have Psion got big plans or not?

Toss a coin or wait for news?

apple:

I'm beginning to think that only you and I have got any idea what this is all about :)

I also wondered if the rumour about Nokia developing their own platform (in effective competition with Symbian) was used as leverage to get Psion to sell them control of it "flog it to us or we'll do our own thing".

Cheers

MM
PS: Any significance in your logon name, platformwise?

MightyMicro

Re: leverage

You are spot on there.

Re: logon name

Macs are what I would like to use.

PCs with windows are what I have to use because the software that I need is only available for windows, the dominant standard OS.

However, some of it is becoming available for Linux & I don't like Linux either but I do like the zero price of it & the support of thousands of people around the planet.

Companies don't want to spend sw development money on minority markets, these silly people just don't want to throw money away to make things just for me.
I think they should or even better just give the money straight to me :-)

The real reason for my logon name is that I was eating one when I signed up for the site, maybe people would think that I was a Mac user but so what.

You are probably wondering what sw I need.

Here is a clue.

http://www.moneyam.com/InvestorsRoom/ShowPostList?fID=1&tID=1964

Well, it seems that they have lost the will to live.

They have got no exciting plans for all that cash they are going to raise from the sale of Symbian, no radically new business areas, no vision for how to put the cash to work & make a lot more, WHAT A WASTE!

They are just going to buy back some of their shares.

These people are a waste of space.

apple, fully agree

Potter under pressure as Psion rebels demand IPO for Symbian mobile business
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news_analysis/story.jsp?story=499593