Shares of Psion Plc rose 25 pence – or 9% – to 297.5 pence on unconfirmed reports that it had won a 40m pound a year contract to supply modems to IBM Corp. Psion refused to comment on suggestions that it was to supply credit-card sized modems and IBM was equally tight-lipped. If the reports are confirmed, it will be a huge boost for Psion Dacom, its hardware division, which is now the world’s third-largest maker of card modems. Last year it won a contract to supply modems to Dell Corp worth between 15m pounds and 20m pounds. The success of Psion Dacom is one consolation for the company whose main palmtop computers face an uncertain future due to the through from Windows CE-based competitors.
