Geoworks Inc has also been retained by NEC Corp to help develop a family of smart phones specifically for the fast- growing Japanese market. -o- Acer Inc chairman Stan Shih told the Dow Jones News Services that the global market for basic, low-cost personal computers is likely to be twice as big in unit terms as that for high-end ones within five years and reach 200m units by then, where high-end ones may be only 100m. -o- Infobank International (Multimedia) Plc has launched an Electronic Data Interchange-based hardware and software purchasing service, the product of its alliance with ICL Plc’s reseller, Technology Plc. The company claims its on-line service can save up to 70% of purchasing costs. The service offers electronic purchasing and an on-line catalog, and enables customers to select the required hardware or software, invoke a purchase order and purchase the products on-line using encryption software. -o- News that British Telecommunications Plc and Cable & Wireless Plc were no longer an item came shortly after the London Evening Standard closed its final edition on a story that Duncan Lewis, credited with turning Cable & Wireless’s Mercury Communications Ltd around before unexpectedly resigning, was leading a group of finance houses to put together a bid for Mercury and One-2-One. Lewis now heads Granada Group Plc’s Granada and LWT television operations, but Granada was said to be prepared to let him go despite his having been on board only a month. Cable & Wireless could still want to sell, but it looks academic now.
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