I have been reflecting today on the announcement that UIQ has filed for bankruptcy. With the creation of the Symbian Foundation this was obviously inevitable. However, going further back, what happened? Why was Nokia’s use of Symbian OS so much more successful?

It’s ironic that Sony Ericsson had touchscreen phones long before the current touchscreen frenzy. In fact, as with many mobile companies, UIQ was probably too far ahead of its time. Early Sony Ericsson UIQ touchscreen phones were always expensive, high end devices with a limited market. Conversely, Nokia’s S60 phones reached down into mid-prices and many people purchased (or rather upgraded via their network operator) without even knowing it was Symbian or a smartphone.

The UIQ company itself was treated as a pawn - ownership moved around from company to company because noone really knew who should be responsible for the loss-leading but necessary entity. As with many mobile ventures, it’s just not possible to make money when there are too many partners (Symbian, UIQ and handset OEM) trying to take a slice of the revenue.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 6:10 pm and is filed under Symbian, UIQ, Mobile. Both comments and pings are currently closed.