Picsel was a company and technology founded in Glasgow, Scotland and its trademark and innovations were used to develop products for

handheld devices A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

such as

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

s and tablets. The founders and original team of Picsel produced award-winning and world leading software and technology which led eventually to the Smartoffice Ltd company branding and selling the SmartOffice application, and other

Office suite Productivity software (also called personal productivity software or office productivity software) is application software used for producing information (such as documents, presentations, worksheets, databases, charts, graphs, digital painting ...

software for viewing and editing documents on mobile devices. Smartoffice went into administration in 2013, and its residual assets were purchased by Artifex Software Inc, a player in the printer market, in February 2014 and these residual assets were subject to all previous licenses including those sold by the administrators.

Key features and Recognition

The original technology was built with key strengths in cross-platform compatibility, usability, graphic performance and office document compatibility.

Product availability

Over 600+ million Picsel IP products have been sold to date by the founders of Picsel, Imran Khand and Majid Anwar and their successive management teams. They have been particularly popular with the Korean OEMs

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of the Samsung chaebol, a ...

and

LG Electronics LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered a ...

, and many Japanese OEMs including

Sharp Sharp or SHARP may refer to: Acronyms * SHARP (helmet ratings) (Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme), a British motorcycle helmet safety rating scheme * Self Help Addiction Recovery Program, a charitable organisation founded in 19 ...

Kyocera is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunic ...

, Fujitsu,

Sony Ericsson Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. ...

, Casio Hitachi and others. The SmartOffice app which is being continued to be sold by Artifex is available through app stores for

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

, Android, Symbian,

bada Bada (stylized as bada; Korean: ) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Samsung Electronics for devices such as mid- to high-end smartphones and tablet computers. The name is derived from " (bada)", meaning "ocean" or "sea" in ...

and other platforms, and has been well received because of its historical pedigree and market penetration over the last 15 years, prior to Artifex becoming involved. In March 2011, an updated version 1.5 with cross platform support (via Dropbox service) was made available. However, many sales are to

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

s who pre-install Picsel software to devices while manufacturing them. The Samsung SGH-D600 mobile phone was one of the best known devices on which Picsel products were bundled.
An updated version of Smart Office version 2.1 is available on Blackberry Playbook, Windows and Amazon.com. Current Artifex Product line also includes Ghostscript, and MuPDF.
FAQ support is available on www.picselsmartoffice.com/support

Litigation

In February 2009, a patent lawsuit was filed against

Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

by Picsel (Research) Ltd,Picsel (Research) Ltd. et al v. Apple Inc.
Filing details of the lawsuit against Apple Inc. but did not reach court.

Insolvency

In July 2009, Picsel Technologies Ltd (and other companies within the group) entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

.Technology firm in administration
BBC article on Picsel entering administration. The company continued trading through this despite staff cut-backs, and after three months was bought back by the original senior management team in a complicated deal which saw only some families of Picsel's patents sold to Samsung. The new trading company, Picsel UK Ltd, continued to develop and sell similar products, employing many of the same staff, after the management buy-out led by the original founders, who also took the responsibility of the staff and other debtors into the new company setup. Picsel UK Ltd entered liquidation in June 2012. A new UK trading company, Smartoffice Technologies Ltd emerged, after advice from the companies advisers. Smartoffice Technologies Ltd continued to develop and market Picsel Smart Office until September 2013 when it entered administration after the floating charge holder (Malaysia Debt Ventures) appointed French Duncan as administrators. In February 2014, Artifex Software Inc purchased the residual rights to the IP, including both the source code, and the Picsel and SmartOffice brands, subject to the previous existing licenses as confirmed by the legal team of the administrators in several publicised letters and communications. Artifex has been continuing in previous business model; to support and develop the SmartOffice technologies and is continuing to both sell end-user products based upon them, and to license them to third party OEMs, based on the original ideas and technologies created by the founders and developers of Picsel.

References

{{Reflist Software companies of Scotland