Smart Handheld Devices division of Paragon Software was formed late 1995. At that
time the division included 1 person doing an outsourced Newton Message Pad project
for a third party. When project was completed the person worked on a problem of
Russian language support in Newton OS. Successful implementation of full Russian
localization of Newton OS in 1996 discovered new niche on the handheld software
market - RAM based localization of smart handheld devices, where Paragon Software
established itself as a proved leader over last years.
Further advances in handheld software business of Smart Handheld Devices division
were made from localization basis. On-line handwriting recognition project PenReader
was started to provide localized pen input on Newton Message Pad. In year 2000 new
product line of handheld dictionaries was started.
Along with core technologies like localization and handwriting recognition, handheld
software utilities has always been one of our secondary tasks. In year 2000 a
Symbian utilities focused team of division's developers was transformed into EPOCWARE - an independent business unit of
Paragon Software Smart Handheld Devices division. Nearest plans of Paragon Software
include allocation of considerable development and marketing resources for creation
and laucnh of new utilites product lines for several handheld platforms.
Paragon Software SHDD current composit market shares, generating most of company's
income, can be roughly estimated as follows:
- handheld localization for EMEA and Israel market - dominating (over 75%)
- handheld localization for non-EMEA markets (Asia, Arabic countries) - minor
(less than 10%)
- multilanguage on-line handwriting recognition for languages other than
English - dominating (over 90%)
- handheld dictionaries - start-up (less than 5% but rapidly growing)
- utilities for Symbian developed by EPOCWARE - strong (over 10%)
- utilities for platforms other than Symbian - minor (less than 1%)
