Sony Ericsson pwns UIQ (literally)

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 7th 2006 at 1:17PM

When a single manufacturer accounts for an overwhelming majority of your license revenue, it stands to reason that said manufacturer might save a little dough in the long haul by acquiring you outright. And so it goes for the long, passionate relationship between UIQ and licensee Sony Ericsson; of the 13 handsets running the Symbian-based platform, nearly half -- six in all -- have been designed and produced by Sony Ericsson, with the remainder split between Motorola and Arima units that haven't seen been met with nearly as much publicity. The Swedish company, currently owned by Symbian itself, will be transferred to Sony Ericsson (pending clearance of the typical bureaucratic stuff, of course) for an undisclosed sum but will continue to operate as an independent entity with the current management team in place. Though UIQ promises that its platform will continue to be available "on equal terms to all its licensees," the move makes official what's been known for years: that UIQ is to Sony Ericsson what S60 is to Nokia, an interpretation of the Symbian smartphone operating system to call its own. Will UIQ ever match S60's popularity, particularly in the Symbian-friendly European market? Probably not, but with a committed partner now laying out the requisite cash, it does seem more likely than ever that UIQ's here to stay -- and as always, we're all about choice.

[Via All About Symbian]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Tags: acquire, acquisition, buy, ericsson, merger, se, sony, sony ericsson, SonyEricsson, symbian, uiq

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

jamesq @ Nov 7th 2006 3:33PM

well "pwn" means "own"..and to "own" meant to have "ownership" of something...in this case....SE has acquired the "ownership" of UIQ....if you get me...

Neutral

Huleboeren @ Nov 7th 2006 8:19PM

"...The Swedish company, currently owned by Symbian itself..."
Is UIQ the swedish company currently owned by symbian or is SonyEricsson the swedish company owned currently owned by symbian?

Neutral

A2Z @ Nov 8th 2006 2:49AM

i guess thats why they have put (literally) in there, so that the literal meaning of pwn could be taken, from own..

anyway...

Neutral

Diizei @ Nov 8th 2006 8:10PM

There is a mistake in the text. Nokia has also made an uiq phone. It is 6708. Check out this link: http://www.symbian-freak.com/news/1105/nokia6708_fcc.htm

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