Sony Ericsson held a media and analyst briefing today to issue an open invitation to phone vendors to become shareholders in UIQ Technology AB following Sony Ericsson’s acquisition of the Swedish software company from Symbian Ltd on February 2

UIQ Technology AB licenses the UIQ user interface framework and application suite to phone vendors. At the briefing Sony Ericsson President Miles Flint said that UIQ will remain an independent company and that phone vendors are invited to license UIQ as well as become shareholders in the company.

Miles Flint emphasised the industry’s need for a strong independent cross-vendor open user interface platform for business and multimedia feature phones and said “By licensing UIQ, handset vendors will be able to share development costs and create a unified market for third party developers resulting in both a richer media and mobile internet experience for consumers”.

Sony Ericsson is already a licensee of UIQ and has shipped a number of phones based on Symbian OS and UIQ such as the P990 business-centric smartphone and the high-end Walkman W950 with 4GB of onboard storage.

Per Aspemar, Head of Strategy at Sony Ericsson, explained “UIQ Technology is already set up as an independent company and prepared for multiple owners through a holding company. Sony Ericsson has gained valuable experience through its ownership and involvement with Symbian, and believes it has the ability to set UIQ Technology up so that it offers an attractive alternative for a wide variety of phone vendors looking for an independent open user interface platform.”

Johan Sandberg, CEO of UIQ Technology, is very encouraged by Sony Ericsson’s intention to keep UIQ both phone vendor and chipset independent. “UIQ offers a truly personal and rich user experience plus fantastic flexibility for developers, operators and phone vendors as it supports many form factors in one code base as has been illustrated by UIQ products announced at 3GSM,” explains Johan Sandberg. “It is easy to port applications between S60 and UIQ on the Symbian platform making it an appealing option for developers.”

Sony Ericsson is in discussions with handset vendors regarding expanding the future ownership of UIQ Technology but wanted to use the opportunity of 3GSM in Barcelona to issue an open invitation to them. Sony Ericsson expects to make further announcements about new shareholders and licensees in the coming months.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications serves the global communications market with innovative and feature-rich mobile phones, accessories and PC-cards. Established as a joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in 2001, with global corporate functions located in London, the company employs over 7,500 people worldwide, including R&D sites in Europe, Japan, China and America. Sony Ericsson celebrated the 5th anniversary of the start of the joint venture on 1st October, 2006.

Sony Ericsson is the global title sponsor of the Women's Tennis Association, and works with the Association to promote the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in over 80 cities during the year.

For more information on Sony Ericsson, please visit www.sonyericsson.com