Mobile phone manufacturers Nokia and Sony Ericsson announced today that they had agreed to collaborate on the Symbian mobile phone operating system (OS) by aligning tools for the UIQ and Series 60 terminal software platforms and by creating an application certification program.
The initiative aims to assist developers to develop, certify and deploy applications for Symbian OS phones, thereby accelerating availability of new applications for the new generation of multimedia mobile phones based on Symbian OS.
This collaboration between Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Symbian will make it possible for developers to use a unified toolset to develop Symbian OS applications for products using both UIQ and Series 60 terminal software platforms.
UIQ, developed by UIQ Technology and used in Sony Ericsson’s P800 Smartphone, is designed to provide a large screen user interface for small pen-based phones. Series 60 Platform is a software product for smart phones that Nokia licenses to other mobile handset manufacturers. Manufacturers integrate the Series 60 Platform into their own phone designs running on top of the Symbian OS.
“With Symbian OS phones shipping in markets worldwide, ever larger numbers of developers are taking advantage of the rapidly growing commercial opportunity in creating applications and services for Symbian OS phones. This new collaboration with Nokia and Sony Ericsson will drive even faster development and availability of innovative applications and services for Symbian OS phones,” said David Levin, CEO at Symbian.
From the second quarter of this year developers will be able to use a single toolset to target both Series 60 and UIQ devices. Nokia and Sony Ericsson are also evaluating a common certification program for Symbian OS applications. This program is intended to enable application developers, network operators and phone customers to test, certify and sign applications for Symbian OS phones. Application developers will be able to assure their application’s quality, helping to broaden the market for Symbian OS applications.
By Dick O’Brien
