Monday, June 23, 2008

Sony Ericsson going to abandon UIQ?

There are some rumors floating around that SE is preparing an announcement about the future of their UIQ platform. If the hints are to be believed, they are going to seriously scale back their commitment and perhaps even abandon the Symbian derivative all together. This would square with the various reports that the new high-end Symbian handsets scheduled for the 2nd half have been cancelled (Paris and BeiBei).

The implications of such a move depend on which direction Sony Ericsson chooses to go. If they plan to move towards a derivative of Linux, it will be a blow to Symbian, but the winners will be harder to figure. OTOH, if this move is a prelude to a strong commitment to Windows Mobile, Microsoft and Qualcomm should be in the catbird's seat. This would be the kind of tier-one handset support that Microsoft has longed for and Qualcomm's long work with Softie on the platform should pay off with future opportunities at Sony Ericsson. The Xperia X1 could just be the first of a whole new portfolio of devices based on Quaclomm's chipsts.

Supposedly we should hear something this week....

No comments: