Psion Wins Royal Tribute for Series 3 Palmtop
BOSTON — April 26, 1994 — British portable computer group Psion Plc has received the United Kingdom's premier hi-tech accolade, The Queen's Award for Technology for the development of its Series 3 palmtop computer, which has become the highest-selling PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) in the world.
The Queen's Award is the most prestigious in the U.K. with the winners being personally presented to the Royal Family.
It completes a notable double for Psion who received the Queen's Award for Export in 1990 in recognition of its growing international presence. The Series 3 has won several awards for its design and technical innovation, including recently the 1993 BYTE Award of Merit for Best Palmtop Computer.
David Elder, president of the company's U.S. subsidiary, Boston-based Psion Inc., commented: "The Series 3 has won more awards than any other pocket computer and receiving the Queen's Award for Technology is a major honor for a British-based company. We derive substantial functionality from an industry-standard 16-Bit architecture which takes pocket computing to a different level from the basic electronic organizer products of our chief Japanese competitors, Casio and Sharp. Their 8-Bit technology is becoming seriously outdated."
Psion has been the main beneficiary of the failure of pen-based PDA's such as the Apple Newton and Casio/Tandy Zoomer, to establish retail markets and has recently increased its production to 24,000 Series 3 machines per month. It is expanding its U.S. operations aggressively, setting up a West Coast office in San Francisco last month and undertaking national advertising for the first time.
The Series 3 is available in over 1,000 retail outlets including Sears, CircuitCity, The Sharper Image and CompUSA.
For further information contact: David Elder, Tel: (508) 371-0310, Fax: (508) 371-9611
CONTACT:
Psion Inc., Boston
Jeffrey Ayers, 201/592-5813