EPOC (operating system)

EPOC is a mobile operating system developed by Psion, a British company founded in 1980.

[2] In June 1998, Psion formed a limited company, named Symbian Ltd., with the telecommunications corporations Nokia, Ericsson, and Motorola.

[4] By buying into the new firm, the telecommunications corporations each acquired a stake in Psion's EPOC operating system and other intellectual property.

In 1986 they released a series of improved models under the Organiser II brand, but the 8-bit era was ending.

To develop the SIBO hardware and software, they needed samples of the 16-bit microprocessors they would be programming; but it took more than a year to secure the chips, which caused a significant delay.

[5] By 1987, development of EPOC was underway: It was a single-user, preemptive multitasking operating system designed to run in read-only memory (ROM).

To enable users to write and run their own programmes, EPOC featured an updated version of the Open Programming Language (OPL), which was first published with the Psion Organiser.

The notebook computers had a windows, icons, menus, pointer (WIMP) graphical user interface (GUI).

The handheld computers, which had smaller screens and no pointing device, accept input from a keyboard or a stylus.

[7] On-screen, programmes were represented by icons, but on smaller devices a user could also access them via specialised buttons.

The move to 32 bits was necessary to remain competitive, and Psion wanted to have a mobile operating system they could license to other companies.

[7] One of the first EPOC licensees was a short-lived company named Geofox; they halted production after selling fewer than 1,000 units.

[9] In addition to its email, messaging, and data synchronisation features, it introduced support for the Java Development Kit, which made it capable of running a wider variety of programmes.

In 2000, EPOC's GUI variations were replaced with three reference interfaces: Crystal was for devices with a small keyboard; Quartz was for "communicator" devices (which had some telecommunication features, and tended to be equipped with a thumb keyboard); and Pearl was for mobile phones.