Nokia Oy has paid $7.5m for an 8.95% stake in Geoworks Inc, the Alameda, California developer of the GEOS graphical operating system for handheld devices. The investment was made via the Nokia Mobile Phones unit, which bought 1m new shares at $7.50 a share, and Nokia gets a seat on the board. The Helsinki company wants to use Geoworks’ software technology for advanced phones and applications for use in cars: it plans products such as smart phones based on the GEOS operating system. Nokia reckons Geoworks is the only company that provides cost-competitive software that makes efficient use of memory, runs on an existing processor – iAPX-86, but typically low-end parts derived from the 8086, and is derived from a proven operating system – MS-DOS. Other Geoworks investors include Hewlett-Packard Co and Novell Inc, which each tossed $4.5m into the pot in 1994 (CI No 2,369).
