David Potter, the man who put Psion in the palm of your hand, logs off at 82

OBITUARY South African-born pioneer of the British tech industry David Potter, the man behind the iconic Psion pocket computers, passed away on 28th June, six days before his 83rd birthday. Potter was the founder of the company of the same name, a pivotal firm in the British technology industry from the 1980s to the 2000s. …

[Dev_Fit]

RIP

Sad news. What a legend.

[Conrad Longmore]

Coolest gadgets ever..

The Organisers and the clamshells that followed it were always the coolest gadgets about but I never managed to own one. A proper computer that sits in your pocket in the early 1990s? Who would have thought. It was disappointing when Psion basically walked away from all the cool stuff in 2000 and merged with Teklogix to become just another provider of industrial handhelds and basically consigned their innovation to the wastebin.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

My lovely Psion5 got lost somewhere along the way but I just pulled my Revo out of the big-box-o-cables, put some AAs in it and it works !

[John Robson]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

I know exactly where my psion5 is.

I still think (or maybe just hope) there is a market for an updated psion5...

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

Wasn't there an attempt from Planet Computers ? Don't want to say anything libellous but IIRC it turned into a classic "kickstarter+computer hardware" scenario

[short]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

I got both Gemini & Cosmo, without outrageous delays, and put many hours on both. Very sweet machines, but never really got traction.

If you leave them in a drawer, they discharge to the point that you have to open them and charge the battery externally, which is annoying. Keyboards are little gems, but _little_, and I seem to have become more hamfisted over the decades.

They're still trading, but the slider has been in development for a long time. https://store.planetcom.co.uk

[werdsmith]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

The original Gemini was the peak, they never followed it up. The Gemini was supported directly by Jolla for Sailfish so you could rid it of Android and it continued to get updates for years.

What I missed about the Psion was the transflective display that was perfectly readable in direct sunlight.

I only recently stopped using my Gemini due to Argon OneUp replacing it. Not as small but fulfils my need for subversion.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

I still have an Organiser II LZ with lots of Paks and the RS232 link. It still works perfectly. Org IIs were stupidly robust due to the sleeve design.

That said, I once hacked into a router (with permission and supervision) in one of the most well known places in London using a Psion Series 3 and serial cable. The person supervising me nearly had a heart attack when he realised just how small the gear to breach a system now could be (he was already wondering where my laptop was when I pulled the Series 3 out of my jacket). From a security perspective it hasn't gotten better.

[Dwarf]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

I came here to say the same. I recall using my old Psion II with an RS232 interface to talk to a Plessey PBX sometime back in the mid 80's, it was easier to do that as laptops weren't really a thing there and I didn't have time until later to run a proper RS232 cable to my desk, so I could handle it better next time.

I've still got the organiser somewhere in my long term storage / thermal insulation layer - the roof space. I bet it still works if I put fresh batteries into it.

[Liam Proven]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

> I never managed to own one

I believe I have two Organizer II LZ 64 units, plus a Series 3A, 3C, 5, 5MX, and Series 7 with a netBook ROM SIMM.

I never got a 3MX. :'(

Re Teklogix...

Argh! I meant to mention that.

Psion Teklogix got bought up by Motorola. That bit of Motorola got bought up by Zebra.

https://www.zebra.com/gb/en.html

It still services the Workabout machines today for some customers.

I have asked them about any Psion IP they may own, but they didn't know.

[I could be a dog really]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

Absolutely.

I had an Organiser (the II I think). At the time we were only just getting desktop computers in the office, but I had this one in my pocket. As the article says, revolutionary removable solid state storage (2716 2kbytes EPROM IIRC) and a file system that worked well on the "write once" storage that could only be erased in bulk. I recall writing BASIC programs on it, and of course, using it to remember "stuff".

And it all ran for "ages" off a single PP3 battery.

Cutting edge stuff.

[Blazde]

Re: Coolest gadgets ever..

Organiser II LZ was my first programming experience. Quickly moved on to a ZX Spectrum and then a 286 PC, but the thrill of debugging Psion 'procedures' and optimising 'oplobj' performance on the EPROMs discreetly in class while the teacher droned on didn't quite leave me. It only needed thumbs to type after all, the fingers were still paying attention to class (every kid with a phone since gets this). It didn't leave me until... a burglary where the Psion vanished. The insurance company paid 'new replacement cost' for what was by then extremely obsolete kit, which somehow was an eye-watering number of pounds that half paid for a brand new 486. I thought that was really lucky at the time but I'd pay 10 times now to have that Psion back and dig around in my old code...

[EddieC]

RIP - Loved Psion products

I had a 3A, 3C, 5 and an Ericsson MC218 (rebadged 5MX), but the first Psion product I used was probably Xchange on the ICL OPD.

[Boufin]

Organiser LZ64, 3a, 3mx. All superb . Moved to a Nokia 9300 then 9300i to continue the OPL hit.

[steelpillow]

Martin Riddiford

Let us not forget the design genius behind the genre-defining Psion Series 5 keyboard's look and feel, generally acknowledged as the best pocket keyboard ever. When Potter later went into Planet, he brought Riddiford's genius with him and, as a direct result, the Gemini keyboard was closely modelled on the Series 5 and with improved feel - IMHO taking the laurels as the best ever. These are the only keyboards which I have been able to type on comfortably, yet still hold the beast in one hand and span across with the other to press [Ctrl]-P with thumb and little finger simultaneously.

I have no idea why, but I am told that the later Planet models lacked the hand of the master, which would explain why their feel deteriorated progressively. Did Potter and Riddiford move on together, I wonder?

[PhilipN]

Thanks, Dave

And Psion 5mx - still the best portable keyboard ever.

[steelpillow]

Re: Thanks, Dave

Didn't like the silver bezel around the screen on the 5mx. Set alongside the barely usable LCD two-tone grey screen, it overpowered in strong sunlight.

[SCP]

Re: Thanks, Dave

It was sweet. Still have my Psion 3 (broken case hinge), and 5mx (similar) and a donor 5mx - [fading] hopes of resurrecting.

It was great having both a word-processor for notetaking and a spreadsheet ready to hand able to run for pretty much a working day on a couple of AA batteries (and easy to have spares to hand).

Condolences to David's family - he was someone who made one of the iconic contributions to personal computing.

[DJV]

Sorry to hear this...

I wrote a novel on my Psion 5mx during work lunchtimes.

[DrewPH]

I miss my Psion 5. Great keyboard, and that keyboard hinge was so elegant. Never seen anything as good since.

[billdehaan]

One of my first PDAs

Rus in vrede, Mr. Potter.

I had (and probably still have in a box somewhere) a Psion 3a in 1994. I convinced my company at the time that portable computing was going to be a big thing in our industry, and we should get ahead of it, so I got them to send me to a conference which gave attendees their choice of a number of devices. I forget what the others were, but I picked up the Psion 3a while everyone else was deciding. It retailed for about Cdn$600 at the time, so I definitely go my (company's) money's worth out of the conference. The only complaint was that it didn't include the optional PC data cable, which I paid Cdn$100 myself, but it was well worth it.

A year later, my company got me an Apple Newton for free, too. Although the Newton was fun to tinker with, after about a month, it went into a drawer, and only ever came out to show it to people. Meanwhile, I was doing actual work on the Psion, every day.

I used it daily until 1999, when the Revo 5a came out and superceded it. Even though I had a Palm Pilot by then, the Psion (either one) was always in my briefcase. It beat the Pilot for note taking, and its' built in spreadsheet was great for logging timesheet hours as a contractor. Also, the game that was included in the Revo was annoyingly addictive, too.

Although I (and the market) went to soft keyboard devices like the Palm Pilot or Windows CE, and then eventually to smart phones, I still have a soft spot for the Psion. It was the gateway drug to portable computing, and it deserves a lot more recognition than it got.

[Blackjack]

I love Symbian, a shame it is just not used anymore.

[MaChatma CoatGPT 2.0]

My favourite computer

I bought a 3A in 1994 when I commenced a project with far too much travel. It did everything I needed it to do. Near instant boot. It ran for weeks on one set of batteries. It fitted in my pocket. It kept me entertained. It recorded expenses when getting a receipt from a taxi driver in a lesser developed country was impossible. Probably the most useful device I've ever owned. Thank you, Dave.

[kamen_n]

Sad

Ever since, back around 1995, my Dad decided he couldn't be bothered anymore with his Psion 3a and allowed me to confiscate it, I've been fascinated with that series of little computers. In fact, nostalgia makes me look at Psions on the second-hand market with my pointer hovering over the "bid" or "purchase" buttons. Eventually, I desist, aware that, nostalgia aside, there's precious little useful things I can do on any of them in 2026. But, oh, they were good, they were really good. I wish my current smartphone was half as usable, useful, and empowering as the Psions of yore.

David Potter was that strange beast: while no-one believed the UK could be an innovator in personal computing, he (and his team of outstanding engineers) went ahead and proved that, yes, the UK could be that, and so much more.

At least, these days we have the Raspberry Pi Foundation carrying the torch.

But I still miss those Psion thingies, warts (and failing hinges and screen cables) and all.

[Fonant]

The Psion apps were amazingly well written. Highly efficient, no need to "Save", cross-application embedding, but most of all a UI that was both simple and usefully flexible. Embedding program IDs in the headers of data files was clever too. No need for three-character filename extensions to indicate file type with a Psion :)

The 3A was brilliant in that it would run for a whole month on two ordinary AA batteries. I used mine a lot, Agenda, Spreadsheet, Data, and a whole bunch of freeware and shareware.

[blu3b3rry]

I remember my school getting kitted out with 3A's as part of the "information technology revolution" in the early 1990s. They were lovely little things to type on, and I've had a mild fascination with tiny computers ever since to the extent a little 1990s Packard Bell clamshell organiser lives on my desk. I'm not a fan of taking notes on a phone or tablet touchscreen.

I did dare look up how much a good condition series 3 goes for on the eBays and at around £60 I'm not quite sure I could justify it....!

In more recent times I had a fairly early Nokia (pre MS takeover) touchscreen phone running Symbian. The phone itself wasn't fantastic, with an awful touchscreen. Symbian seemed to be very open and powerful in a way similar Android phones just weren't.

[molletts]

Acorn Pocketbook

I have an Acorn Pocketbook - a rebadged Series 3a - which I intercepted on its way to the bin about 25 years ago. I wasn't new to the 3a as my Dad had bought one new when he got one of his famous "bees in his bonnet" and thought he would use it for some purpose in his business. I spent quite some time when I should have been studying for my GCSEs writing a database app for it (along with a companion app for Windows which synced data over the serial link cable) that essentially gave him a cut-down mostly-read-only version of the trade-specific DOS-based line-of-business database/CRM thing he used.

It didn't get that much use for several reasons: 1) he was a technophobe until relatively recently (he hardly ever touched the PC, leaving Mum to all that kind of stuff), 2) he has sausage fingers and 3) he very quickly broke the flexicircuit to the display because of his intensely-annoying habit of opening it fully then trying to open it a bit more.

At least I got a spare power adaptor and the link cable kit out of it, along with an introduction to the Psion world...

[Gavsky]

Industry & development is driven by people like him, for good & bad; Jobs is a perfect example of that. I'm thrilled that I now know what PSION actually stood for! 'Or Nothing' - that's hilarious. It's fascinating to learn how everything developed in the earlier days of technology.

I LOVED Flight Simulator on my Sinclair ZX-81- my first experience of a flight sim. Despite no sound, black & white graphics, one runway - as an 11-year old I was mesmerised. PSION was so important to the Sinclair success in the 80s.

[anthonyhegedus]

A British success

Psion products - of which I’ve had many, from Psion software on the Sinclair QL, to Organisers, Series 3, Series 5 and even one of those colour mini laptops - were excellent. The fact that I could program my organiser II made it remarkably useful. The series 5 was powerful enough to run maps and connect to a GPS unit.

I recall seeing at Liverpool St station a shop just called “Games & Psion” in the late 1990s. It was that popular. It was the gadget to be seen with before smartphones.

And yet they lost their way when smartphones such as the Nokia 9000 series came on the market.

But under the leadership of Potter, they produced really good quality, well designed and well built devices, and it’s sad when such a genius passes I suppose. I wonder if history could have been different and we’d all be walking around with Psion smartphones instead of android or apple.

[steelpillow]

Re: A British success

> And yet they lost their way when smartphones such as the Nokia 9000 series came on the market.

Was more like the Acorn experience. We face a diverging marketplace. We can find only one product line, which will it be?

In Psion's case it was the industrial handhelds vs consumer/business PDAs. They felt that the PDAs were a passing fad and plumped for the industrial market. But they failed to make headway (not sure why) and, unlike Acorn's pursuit of ARM, it turned out to be the wrong decision.

[frankvw]

Re: A British success

Indeed. An increasingly orange-tinted country across the Big Pond (and I know I'll get downvoted for saying this) believes itself to be the greatest on Earth. Meanwhile the early computer market was pioneered in no small degree by the likes of Acorn and Sinclair, who stood on the shoulders of British giants such as Babbage, Lovelace and Turing who practically invented computing as we know it. Then there are such trifles as the jet engine, television and the World Wide Web, not to mention the Proper Pint of Bitter. All from the British isles. Not too shabby, Nige!

[Wiretrip]

Psion Organisers made excellent handheld terminals end could always be seen when reprogramming traffic lights and other such embedded systems :-) I wouldn't be surprised to see them still in use!

[Doug 3]

RIP Mr Potter, you started the world we live today and did it with class and style

Trying to work with the phone manufacturers and carriers back in the 90s was terrible and they all wanted to own and create their own systems.

Mr Potter tried to show them the way forward but they refused and 10 years later they got handed the choice of either going out of business letting Apple own the market or jump on Android.

Having Psion as a giant in technology today would have been a breath of fresh air.

Just love hearing stories of pioneers like David Potter from a time where villains like Bill Gates and Microsoft dominated the industry and that included handhelds.

Men alike David Potter, Philippe Kahn, Gary Kildall, Tim Paterson, Jerry Kaplan and a few others were giants of the industry for what they did and WHY they did it as opposed to those who used their influence and power to destroy and protect rather than advance.

The interview is long but worth every minute of time. RIP Mr Potter.

[Anonymous Coward]

did he use a PC?

I remember going up to DP's office to replace cc:Mail and Organiser with Lotus Notes after everybody else had been upgraded. I wasn't convinced he actually used his PC.

[Acme Tech Support]

Few years ago, bloke at work showing off a new iPhone ans saying how he could link his mac and access emails and the Internet.

Just looked at him and said I was doing that years ago with my 5mx and Nokia 6310 phone.

Great for taking notes, great battery life. I miss it...

[Jim Whitaker]

My first

I had a Psion Series 3 and used it for several years. Still one of the best PDA's I have ever used. Predictably, the folding mechanism was its downfall.

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a Psion 5MX for a few years, it was old even then but the form factor was/is pretty unbeatable.

Revolutionary for it's time.

[gryphon]

Agreed.

I stupidly gave mine to a friend many years ago.

Still have my old 3a but it has a bit of a hinge problem and needs the display ribbon cable replaced.

Showed it to my 18 year old son when I dug it out when moving house.

He couldn't believe anything so small from 'back in the day' was a full computer.

[Valeyard]

still use mine!

writing stories during work lunchtime, balance the monthly budget on the spreadsheet program, setting up a todo list

[Big_Boomer]

RIP Dave

As a ZX81 and QL owner your products were extensively used by me and my Dad, and whilst we never got into the PDAs I always admired the technology.

[StephenRandall]

I’ve been thinking about my first meeting with David Potter in 1996.

Much of the Psion and Symbian story has been reported in The Register over the years, but this is my personal perspective of the start of what became an incredibly impactful period for me and for Psion.

Psion had roughly a third of the handheld computer market, alongside HP and Sharp, and the UK press adored it. Yet David was already being challenged on whether Psion could survive the coming convergence of handheld computers and mobile phones.

Just before my meeting, David had been interviewed by The Sunday Times, and he was fuming that he’d been asked, “Will Psion die like Apple or die like IBM?”

I was there to present a licensing strategy that would eventually lead to Psion Software and then Symbian.

What struck me was not that David had all the answers. Licensing meant potentially cannibalizing a highly profitable hardware business. It meant trading large product margins for much smaller software royalties. It meant asking shareholders, engineers, and the wider company to think very differently about what Psion was.

The logic was clear enough. Psion had great mobile technology, but the handheld organizer market was small and slow growing. Mobile phones, by contrast, were exploding. If the future was connected mobile devices, Psion needed to be inside phones, not just making its own much-loved devices.

In simple terms, Psion had to try to become the Microsoft of mobile before Microsoft, or someone else, claimed that position.

But the real challenge was not technical. It was political.

Software could not be credibly licensed to Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola, or anyone else if they believed Psion’s own hardware business would always get the best bits first. So the company needed to be restructured. Psion Computers and Psion Industrial could keep building devices, but Psion Software needed to become a separate platform business, licensing its operating system and applications to everyone, including Psion’s competitors.

David asked me to present the strategy to the board, but said he would remain silent. He broadly supported the direction, but wanted to hear the board’s unfiltered response.

It didn’t go well.

The resistance was strong. Some executives feared licensing would help competitors like Sharp damage Psion Computers. Others worried it would distract from already delayed product launches. Some wanted to license only the operating system, not the applications. I pushed back. A platform company needed to offer a complete solution. Otherwise we would cripple the appeal of the strategy before it had even begun.

One memorable response to the Sunday Times “die like Apple or IBM” question was: “Death is optional.”

To David’s credit, he saw this as part of the process. The question was not whether licensing was risky. It was whether not licensing was riskier. He told me to work with the naysayers, address their concerns, and at the next board meeting he would make his own views clear.

On the day of the next board meeting, The Independent ran a piece quoting David, effectively endorsing the strategy. He called it a gamble, but a necessary one. Psion was going to license its software to avoid Apple’s fate.

With David’s decision public, the board approved the strategy.

David could be forceful, impatient, brilliant, and intimidating. But he was also curious enough to ask the uncomfortable question: what if the thing that made us successful is not the thing that will keep us alive?

That, to me, is one of the harder forms of leadership. Not just defending what you built, but being willing to question it before the market does it for you.