UIQ Technology
Encyclopedia
UIQ Technology developed and licensed an open software platform to the world's leading mobile phone manufacturers and supported licensees in the drive towards developing a mass market for open mobile phones. The UIQ platform was, for example, used in mobile phones from Sony Ericsson
, Motorola
, BenQ
and Arima
.
The company focused on usability design, software engineering, product realization, technical consulting, sales and marketing. UIQ Technology, established in 1999, was owned jointly by Motorola and Sony Ericsson. It had a five-man board of directors, including two representatives from Motorola, two from Sony Ericsson, and one independent.
announced they had agreed (in principle) to buy UIQ from Symbian Ltd.
and run it as a separate subsidiary. The UIQ products would be "openly available, licensed on equal terms to all its licensees". The sale will complete in the next few months "pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions". The acquisition was completed in February 2007.
On October 15, 2007, Sony Ericsson
and Motorola, Inc.
announced an agreement for Motorola to purchase a 50% interest in UI Holdings BV, the parent company of UIQ Technology. The two companies worked and invested jointly in the development of UIQ
.
UIQ Technology was based in Ronneby
, Sweden
and situated in the Soft Center Science & Research Park.
The General Manager was Johan Sandberg.
3.3 was the last version of the platform, based upon Symbian OS v9.3, which served as the core operating system. Developers that developed on the UIQ
3.x platform had a much better story than previous releases, since all UIQ
3.x phones wasd served by a single, core SDK.
The original version of the platform was known as Quartz.
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, BenQ
BenQ
BenQ Corporation is a Taiwanese multi-national company that sells and markets consumer electronics, computing and communications devices under the "BenQ" brand name, which stands for the company slogan Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to life .- Company :BenQ sells and markets technology products,...
and Arima
Arima
The Royal Borough of Arima is the fourth largest town in Trinidad and Tobago. Located east of the capital, Port of Spain, Arima supports the only organised indigenous community in the country, the Santa Rosa Carib Community and is the seat of the Carib Queen...
.
The company focused on usability design, software engineering, product realization, technical consulting, sales and marketing. UIQ Technology, established in 1999, was owned jointly by Motorola and Sony Ericsson. It had a five-man board of directors, including two representatives from Motorola, two from Sony Ericsson, and one independent.
History
On November 7, 2006, Sony EricssonSony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
announced they had agreed (in principle) to buy UIQ from Symbian Ltd.
Symbian Ltd.
Symbian Ltd. was a software development and licensing company, known for the Symbian OS, a smartphone operating system, and other related technologies...
and run it as a separate subsidiary. The UIQ products would be "openly available, licensed on equal terms to all its licensees". The sale will complete in the next few months "pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions". The acquisition was completed in February 2007.
On October 15, 2007, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
and Motorola, Inc.
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
announced an agreement for Motorola to purchase a 50% interest in UI Holdings BV, the parent company of UIQ Technology. The two companies worked and invested jointly in the development of UIQ
UIQ
UIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
.
UIQ Technology was based in Ronneby
Ronneby
Ronneby is a locality and the seat of Ronneby Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 11,767 inhabitants in 2005.Ronneby is regarded as the heart of "the Garden of Sweden", and in 2005 the park "Brunnsparken" in Ronneby was voted Sweden's most beautiful park. 2006 the park was voted Europe's...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and situated in the Soft Center Science & Research Park.
The General Manager was Johan Sandberg.
The Platform
UIQUIQ
UIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3.3 was the last version of the platform, based upon Symbian OS v9.3, which served as the core operating system. Developers that developed on the UIQ
UIQ
UIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3.x platform had a much better story than previous releases, since all UIQ
UIQ
UIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3.x phones wasd served by a single, core SDK.
The original version of the platform was known as Quartz.
History
1998- Spring - Ericsson Mobile Communications in Lund set up a development lab in Ronneby called Mobile Applications Lab. This was the precursor of UIQ Technology.
- June - Symbian Ltd. was established in London.
1999
- 1 April - The company became part of Symbian Ltd, and the new company name was Symbian AB. Work was focused on Quartz 6.0, which was the pen-based communicator later known as UIQ.
- December - Number of permanent employees: 21
2000
- February - Quartz was publicly announced.
- May - Johan Sandberg was appointed General Manager.
- September - The first product release of Quartz 6.0 was made.
- December - Number of permanent employees: 78.
2001
- April - Quartz 6.1 was released.
- December - Number of permanent employees: 76.
2002
- February - The company name was changed to UIQ Technology AB and the product was re-named UIQ.
- March - UIQ 2.0 was released.
- December - Number of permanent employees: 85.
- December - The first UIQ phone, Sony Ericsson P800Sony Ericsson P800The Sony Ericsson P800 is a smartphone introduced in 2002 based upon UIQ version 2.0 from Sony Ericsson...
, was released. - December - UIQ Selected Partner Program was launched for UIQ 2.1.
2003
- February - UIQ 2.1 was made public.
- October - The first UIQ 2.1 based phone, Sony Ericsson P900Sony Ericsson P900The Sony Ericsson P900 is a Symbian OS v7.0 based smartphone from Sony Ericsson.It was introduced in 2003 and is the successor of the Sony Ericsson P800, and, like the P800 uses the UIQ platform....
, reached the market. Motorola A920 was launched. - December - Number of permanent employees: 102.
2004
- February - UIQUIQUIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3 was announced at 3GSM. - February - Motorola A925Motorola A925Motorola A925 is a 3G smartphone from Motorola using Symbian OS. Among the most notable features is its built-in A-GPS. The A925 was preceded by the featurewise essentially identical Motorola A920, and was succeeded by the Motorola A1000....
, Sony Ericsson P910Sony Ericsson P910The Sony Ericsson P910 is a smartphone by Sony Ericsson introduced in 2004 and the successor of the Sony Ericsson P900. The P910 has a full QWERTY keyboard on the back of the flip The biggest change from the P900 to the P910 is that the P910 now supports Memory Stick PRO Duo and the phone's...
, BenQ P30, Motorola A1000Motorola A1000The Motorola A1000 is a 3G smartphone from Motorola using the UIQ platform based upon Symbian OS. One of the most notable features is its built-in A-GPS. The A1000 is the successor to the A925 and A920....
reached the market. - December - Number of permanent employees: 110.
- December - UIQ Selected Partner Program was launched for UIQ 3.
2005
- September - First UIQUIQUIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3 phone was announced - the Sony Ericsson P990Sony Ericsson P990Sony Ericsson P990 is a smartphone and the successor of Sony Ericsson P910. The phone uses the UIQ 3 software platform, which is based upon Symbian OS 9.1. It was released in August 2006. The P990 has a numeric keypad that flips open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard below the display, on the phone... - September - UIQ developer program launched
2006
- February - Second and third UIQUIQUIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3 phones are announced - the Sony Ericsson M600Sony Ericsson M600Sony Ericsson M600 is a 3G smartphone based upon the UIQ 3 platform...
and the Sony Ericsson W950Sony Ericsson W950The Sony Ericsson W950i is the third UIQ 3 smartphone based on Symbian OS v9.1. It was announced on February 13, 2006, a week after the announcement of the Sony Ericsson M600.- Developing for the W950i :...
- as the platform moves into high volume, mid-tier devices - February - UIQ developer program launches premium level membership and hosts WDF developer track at 3GSM
- November - Sony Ericsson announces that it has agreed to buy UIQ Technology
2007
- February - UIQUIQUIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3.1 is released followed shortly by the SDK. - February - The Motorola RIZR Z8 is announced.
- February - Sony Ericsson finishes the acquisition of UIQ Technology from Symbian Ltd.
- May - The Sony Ericsson P1Sony Ericsson P1The Sony Ericsson P1 is a smartphone and the successor of the P990. It integrates many of the hardware features of the P990 in the form factor of the M600. It was announced on 8 May 2007. There is a Chinese version of P1 called P1c...
i is announced. - October - MotorolaMotorolaMotorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
acquires 50% interest in UIQ Technology parent company UI Holdings BV.
2008
- March - UIQUIQUIQ by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS. Essentially this is a graphical user interface layer that provides additional components to the core OS, to enable the development of feature-rich mobile phones that are open to expanded capabilities through third-party...
3.3 was announced. - December - UIQ files for bankruptcy following the announcements of the open source Symbian Foundation earlier the same year.