Motorola has pulled out of a joint venture with handheld PC maker Psion, but the Symbian-platform based device that the companies had been developing won't be canned.

The Symbian Quartz-based appliance was supposed to appear in the first half of this year after the two vendors signed a joint development pact in January 2000.

Psion said in a statement that Motorola had pulled out of the partnership and would refocus its development work in this space on a "multifunctional mobile smart phone". The device is scheduled to be launched in 2002.

The statement said the move was "consistent with Motorola's recently announced moves to streamline its portfolio of offerings and focus on its core strengths." The company is reported to be keen to cut costs and boost its profitability.

Motorola added that its involvement in the Symbian venture was unaffected by the decision, however. Symbian is a collaborative alliance between Motorola, Psion, Nokia, Ericsson and Panasonic.

But Psion said the move will lead to it taking a hit of £12m during fiscal 2001. "Psion is continuing development of this product and is evaluating a range of options for its completion in light of the significant additional development cost and a launch in the first half of 2002," the company said.