Esato Forums - Sony Ericsson / Sony : Symbian phones : Interesting Reading (Sony Ericsson Chief Outlines Symbian Hurdles)

Index Menu

> New Topic
> Reply
< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Symbian phones > Interesting Reading (Sony Ericsson Chief Outlines Symbian Hurdles) Bookmark topic

gurok Posts: 3

http://www.cbronline.com/cbrnews/38f758eccdffa8f280256e5300385ced

[ This Message was edited by: masseur on 2004-03-10 12:12 ]
--
Posted: 2004-03-10 13:11:00
Edit : Quote

masseur Posts: > 500

for people on wap

Sony Ericsson Chief Outlines Symbian Hurdles
By Tony Cripps

The president of mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB has revealed the two factors that are essential to his company's continued support of the Symbian mobile operating system.

He also cast doubt over claims that Symbian shareholders are completely happy with Nokia Corp's planned takeover of the company as had previously been reported.

Speaking during a question-and-answer session at the launch of Sony Ericsson's next batch of handsets, Katsumi Ihara told journalists that Symbian OS remained his company's favored smart phone OS. However, Ihara said the health of Sony Ericsson's relationship with Symbian hinged on the platform remaining open and an ongoing commitment from Nokia to Sony Ericsson's favored user interface option, UIQ.

"There are two important factors for Sony Ericsson with the Symbian OS," said Ihara. "It should be open to anybody. Not perceived as proprietary to a single manufacturer. [It also depends on] UIQ being developed within Symbian. As long as those two conditions are met, Symbian will remain our open platform of choice."

Ihara said discussions are in progress to meet these requirements, although he gave reason to question that a satisfactory outcome is guaranteed. "We are in talks with other shareholders as to how we can secure these two factors. We can't comment further on this point," he said.

Sony Ericsson is the most prominent supporter of UIQ, which offers a touch screen interface rather than the key-based interfaces of Nokia's rival Series 60 and Series 80 Symbian variants. There is clearly some concern that the UIQ software, developed by Symbian's own UIQ Technology subsidiary, may be de-emphasized by Nokia once it gains a controlling interest in Symbian.

Mention of Symbian had been notably absent from Sony Ericsson's main presentation, suggesting that further additions to Sony Ericsson's family of Symbian devices - the P800 and its recent replacement, the P900 - are not planned any time soon.

Instead, Sony Ericsson revealed a closer cooperation with co-owner Sony for its handset design. The most obvious beneficiary of Sony's increased input is the S700 camera phone. The handset, which is set to debut on GSM/GPRS networks in the fourth quarter, appears more like a Sony digital camera than a phone with the large display used offering a full landscape-mode user interface when the camera is activated.

The keypad is hidden under the revolving display in a similar manner to the existing SO505i, produced for NTT DoCoMo in Japan. Only navigational and call keys are visible on the outer surface. The S700 features a 262,000 pixel color display and a 1.3 megapixel camera, the first such from Sony Ericsson for GSM/GPRS networks.

A similar philosophy has been applied to the K700, albeit in a more traditional candy bar design similar to the earlier T610 and current T630. The K700 is another GSM/GPRS model and is set for commercial availability in the second quarter.

Sony's increasing contribution to Sony Ericsson has already proved of great benefit to the once beleaguered outfit. The company has received industry plaudits for recent handsets such as the P800 and T610 that have helped propel it back into the role of handset contender. The company ranked sixth in IDC's 2003 handset shipments calculations and third in the "converged mobile device" space, largely corresponding to the smart phone market.

Mobile games engine developer Synergenix Interactive will not be part of Sony Ericsson's future success, however. The company's Mophun software, as featured on the T610, has been dropped in favor of the J2ME-based Mascot Capsule Engine Micro 3D Edition from Japan's Hi Corp.

Other new products included some updates of current models for the Americas, new EDGE-enabled PC cards and the EDGE- and push-to-talk-enabled Z500, again for the Americas.
--
Posted: 2004-03-10 13:13:03
Edit : Quote

adnhk1 Posts: 447

If Nokia wants to really fend off Micro$oft in the mobilephone market, then they better fully support the UIQ platform. Cos take a good look now, as P900 is the only real 'contender' to the XDA II, in terms of size, touch screen and weight. The soon to be released Communicator 9500 will not be everyone's cup of tea for the simple reasons stated above. Many business users will be turned off just for the size and weight of the 9500 imho.

Cheers
--
Posted: 2004-03-10 13:49:20
Edit : Quote

mmsman Posts: > 500

yeah it would be nice if nokia would make uiq devices.....
--
Posted: 2004-03-10 14:04:51
Edit : Quote

gurok Posts: 3

Quote:
On 2004-03-10 13:49:20, adnhk1 wrote:
If Nokia wants to really fend off Micro$oft in the mobilephone market, then they better fully support the UIQ platform. Cos take a good look now, as P900 is the only real 'contender' to the XDA II, in terms of size, touch screen and weight. The soon to be released Communicator 9500 will not be everyone's cup of tea for the simple reasons stated above. Many business users will be turned off just for the size and weight of the 9500 imho.

Cheers

This market moves way too quickly to talk about contenders at a phone level. One firms feature is another firms minimum spec for a development project. I purchased a Treo 600 for my son at Christmas, it is a very capable smart phone that has a rapidly growing support base. In 2 or 3 iterations it could well be a stonker… Handspring’s just were not a consideration when I purchased my P800. All this change and we are counting in months!

The real issue here is if the UIQ platform will remain open for many vendors’ clients to indirectly provide feedback and input into or one firms closed standard with mandated functionality. I liken UIQ to the MSX computer of the 1980’s; it was a super idea but required a level of sophistication amongst vendors that simply could not be sustained.

Fingers crossed 20 years has improved attitudes… Sony were in on that gig back then as well.

G.
--
Posted: 2004-03-10 15:50:33
Edit : Quote

JiggyJaggy Posts: > 500

_________________
P800 R1D / Z600+rainbow cover / HBH-60
Will puchase: MMV-100,HCB-300

[ This Message was edited by: JiggyJaggy on 2004-03-10 17:19 ]
--
Posted: 2004-03-10 18:19:21
Edit : Quote

New Topic Reply