Operating system developer Be Inc. will be offering devices based on its Be Internet Appliance (BeIA) operating system by the fourth quarter of this year, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
BeIA, launched in February, is targeted at low-cost appliances such as Web tablets, as well as entertainment devices for downloading video and audio streams from the Internet.
Be has signed an agreement with Taiwanese hardware manufacturer Arima Computer Corp. to jointly develop the Internet consumer products, which will be sold on to OEMs and other companies. These companies will be free to customize the user interface and branding of the devices, Be said in the statement.
Teaming with Arima will shorten the time needed to get BeIA-based products in the hands of consumers, according to Jean-Louis Gassée, chairman and CEO of Be.
At the February launch of BeIA, Gassée said that BeIA's strengths lie in its stability, its ability to handle rich multimedia content, and a modular design that allows the operating system to be adapted for use in a wide range of devices.
Among the companies supporting BeIA is Hitachi, which has licensed BeIA for use in a consumer information device to be sold through Japanese telecommunications firms. Compaq and Qubit Corp., which makes Web tablets, have also licensed BeIA for use in forthcoming Web appliances.
Be, in Menlo Park, Calif., is at www.be.com.
RELATED LINKS
