France Telecom announced a partnership with IBM Corp. and Palm Computing Inc. for a trial service extending intranet and desktop-environment data to personal digital assistants. The solution integrates France Telecom’s Itineris Global System for Mobile communications network with hardware and software infrastructure from IBM and Palm V connected organizers from Palm Computing. The trial is expected to lead to commercial service near the end of the year, the company said.
Psion plc and Motorola Inc. announced they plan to co-develop a variety of mobile Internet access devices based on Symbian technology, which uses Psion’s EPOC operating system. Both Motorola and Psion are founding members of the Symbian initiative. They two said they have formed a fully staffed development team working on integrated voice and data Internet products with wireless connectivity. They said they expect a worldwide product launch in the first half of 2001, to be marketed separately but branded by both.
Watkins-Johnson Co., a high technology company specializing in components and subassemblies for communications, announced completing a proposed recapitalization merger with FP-WJ Acquisition Corp., a company formed by investment funds managed by Fox Paine & Co. According to Watkins-Johnson, the deal calls for the outstanding shares of the merged company to be converted into the right to receive $41.125 per share in cash. At the close of the transaction, Watkins-Johnson becomes a private company and will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Paging Network Inc. announced it has begun selling two-way messaging services on its own ReFLEX 25 network, with the delivery of ReFLEX 25 devices from Motorola Inc. PageNet’s 2-WayPlus service uses the Motorola 2000X pager. Monthly service begins at $13 a month for 10,000 characters.
