Intel links with Symbian to promote handheld technologies

By
EE Times UK
(08/22/01, 10:09:09 AM EDT)

Intel and Symbian have joined forces to recruit software developers and hardware manufacturers to build devices using Intel's Personal Internet Client Architecture (PCA) and Symbian's OS.

The two companies are looking to transfer the Symbian OS to the application processing engines for the Intel PCA and extend Symbian's support for the Intel StrongARM processor to future processors based on the Intel XScale microarchitecture.

Ron Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Wireless Communications and Computing group, said: "Adding Symbian to the growing roster of companies supporting Intel PCA is a key milestone for us, as we work with the industry to help bring true data applications capability to mobile devices."

To support third party developers, the two companies will develop design guides for working with Symbian OS and Intel PCA.

The partnership will combine Symbian's operating system tools with Intel PCA software developer kits. The companies will also run technical sessions at each other's development conferences.

Mark Edwards, executive vice president, Symbian, said: "Symbian is working closely with leading industry players like Intel to create a mass market for data-enabled mobile phones. Our initiative with Intel PCA allows us to extend Symbian's offerings to a wide developer base."