Tandy Corp, Fort Worth, Texas does not intend to get left behind in what Apple Computer Inc believes will be a burgeoning market for portable information and communication devices. The company has followed Apple in lining up a Japanese partner to contribute miniaturisation and manufacturing expertise, choosing watch and calculator king Casio Computer Co Ltd of Tokyo. It has signed a letter of intent with Casio to design, develop, manufacture, market and distribute a family of Personal Information Processors, and have invited two software companies to the party. GeoWorks Inc, Berkeley, California will supply its Geos operating system and Palm Computing Inc will supply applications. Geos is an open-architecture object-oriented graphical operating system that supports a range of input devices, including pens, and unlike the generality of today’s operating systems is written efficiently to minimise the memory it requires; it also offers real-time power management. Palm Computing PalmPrint handwriting recogniser, developed for Tandy subsidiary GRiD Systems Inc’s GRiDPad computer, will be used. The first products from the arrangement are expected in 1993.
