Sony Ericsson: UIQ is dead

What’s this? Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE), a champion of the UIQ mobile OS, has apparently seen the last days of the Symbian-based OS. Sony Ericsson’s Patrick Olsen said at the Symbian Smartphone Show that his company’s mobile OS of choice just “didn’t make it.” Olsen didn’t elaborate on the timeline for phasing out UIQ from Sony Ericsson’s product lineup, but it sounds like UIQ might just fade off into the history books once the code-base is integrated into the Symbian Foundation’s open-source Symbian code-base.

Sony Ericsson has been UIQ’s chief proponent over the years, so it’s appropriate that Sony Ericsson be the one to sound UIQ’s death knoll. The Japanese-Swedish mobile phone joint venture just recently strayed from UIQ with their latest flagship smartphone – the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. The  Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 with Sony Ericsson’s Panel UI making things look nice and pretty.

The move to Windows Mobile might be Sony Ericsson’s first foray into Windows Mobile, but with the death of UIQ, the company could be planning to give more love to Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s mobile OS. To be clear, Sony Ericsson has steered clear of making any comments on their stance on Windows Mobile and it’s prospects for future Sony Ericsson devices. But, it’s not hard to see a future filled with Sony Ericsson hardware powered by Windows Mobile.

[Via: AllAboutSymbian]