Sun Microsystems Inc is quietly working up its own handheld communicating computer effort aimed at the mass market, according to the New York Times. The paper says that Sun has been working on the project for two and a half years under the code-name Green at its SunLabs unit under former Apple Computer Inc executive Wayne Rosing, and is forming a new company, First Person Inc, to exploit it. Sun is said to be going into direct competition with Apple Computer Inc spin-out General Magic Inc and has already licensed designs for its nomadic computer to two Japanese companies, and is in talks with French and German consumer electronics companies. According to the Times, First Peson is to be headed by Rosing, has about a dosen employees, and is presently in process of moving into new premises in Palo Alto. Rosing told the Times that the new Sun subsidiary is in the advanced development stages, and that finished products were more than two years away, although people close to the project reportedly say working models already exist. Key Sun employees in the areas of programming and signal processing are said to be moving to the new company, which is claimed to have made breakthroughs in security and ease of use.
