The IT industry is about to go through its biggest evolution since the introduction of the PC.

A new era of handheld computing will, the industry claims, bring unlimited information and computing power into the palm of the user_s hand whether he/she is in the office or at the beach. CeBIT 99 will showcase a variety of handheld devices all laying claim to being the first links in new evolutionary chain. However, the precise form factor for this new species has yet to be agreed. The Mobile phone makers believes that the future of handheld computing belongs to smartphones. Organiser manufacturers say that personal organisers will be the dominant format and palmtop computer makers present an equally credible argument for their products. All the big industry players agree that the global market for handheld IT products could be in the hundreds of millions within the next five years. Three main handheld operating systems will be facing off with each other across the stands of CeBIT 99. Microsoft_s offering is WinCE, the lightweight version of Windows. The second contender is PalmOS - the operating system that runs 3Com_s widely-sold PalmPilot organisers. The third, EPOC, was developed by handheld manufacturer Psion and is supported by the three leading phone makers, Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola in the form of Symbian, a joint company formed in 1998. The strategies being employed by the owners of the three rival handheld operating systems are very different. Microsoft is using the play that won it control of the major part of the world_s PC market - open licensing agreements for its software. In contrast, 3Com believes in shipping products first and talking about operating systems second. With sales of three million Palm Pilots worldwide, this is a persuasive argument. Symbian sits somewhere in the middle - talking open standards whilst preaching the manufacturing might of its three big phone maker owners. Microsoft_s most serious rival in the business field is undoubtedly 3Com. The company_s range of PalmPilot products has already established a major global share of the nascent handheld market. The company_s newest offering, the Palm VII, is about to raise the stakes on handheld computing dramatically.