LONDON—Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications announced plans to purchase UIQ Technology AB, a subsidiary of Symbian Ltd.
UIQ, based in Sweden, licenses its user interface and application development platform to mobile phone vendors worldwide, including Sony Ericsson. The two companies have worked together on UIQ version 3.0, which is included in the phone vendor’s P990 smart phone, M600 messaging phone and the W950 Walkman phone.
Mats Lindoff, chief technology officer at Sony Ericsson, said that the UIQ user interface enables the phone vendor to provide push e-mail, Internet browsing, user personalization and music applications on some of its handsets. Johan Sandberg, chief executive officer at UIQ, said that Sony Ericsson’s investment would keep the company competitive in creating phones with advanced features.
If the acquisition is approved by regulators, UIQ Technology will operate as a subsidiary of Sony Ericsson under its current management team, the two companies said.
Arima, Motorola Inc. and BenQ have also licensed UIQ’s offerings.
