This enables Psion to boast that it now has a leading share of the emerging smartphone market, though this is a market at an early stage of development and one in which Microsoft Corp has yet to make its presence felt.
The bulk of Symbian’s revenue comes from consultancy for future product development, but royalties more than doubled to 7.7m pounds ($12.2m), which suggests that the figure for each device is $5.80.
With Symbian net overheads of 52.8m pounds ($83.4m), the company made a hefty loss after tax of 37.2m pounds ($58.8m), though this was down from 42.1m pounds ($66.5m) the previous year. It ended the year with 21.8m pounds ($34.4m) in cash and capital due. This was boosted by the 17m pounds ($26.9m) that Samsung paid for a 5% shareholding.
A 25.3% shareholding is the jewel in the crown of Psion, which has shrunk since it exited the consumer hardware business that contributed 52.1m pounds ($82.3m) of revenue last year. Without this burden, Psion posted a net loss of 29.2m pounds ($46.1m), down from a loss of 150.1m pounds ($237.2m) on revenue 23.8% lower at 137.9m pounds ($217.9m).
At its Teklogix business, which provides mobile communications systems for factories, warehouses and ports, revenue fell 2.9% to 123.5m pounds ($195.1m), though in a depressed market the company claims that it represents a better performance than its competitors.
Psion spent 3m pounds ($4.7m) on a new software operation that now employs 35 people and said it aims to develop middleware connecting the internet to the new generation of smartphones. Precisely what it has developed will be revealed in coming months when the software is completed, and is likely to center on synchronization.
Source: Computerwire
