Any chance you could give us a hint on the release date for the iPhone application?

"UIQ Technology puts entire staff on notice of dismissal

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 7th 2008 at 4:42PM
Ugh, this is just downright depressing no matter how you spin it. Sure, it's just the reality of business and all, but it's no fun to hear that 270 staffers will soon be looking for employment when UIQ Technology finishes climbing into the grave. After hacking 200 jobs in June and being coined "dead" by Sony Ericsson's Patrick Olson, All About Symbian has it that the company has put its remaining employees "on notice of dismissal." We're told that SE has agreed to "continue funding the company on a by month by month basis in order to allow it to investigate options for the future," but from the outside looking in, we'd say the outlook is bleak. Thankfully, it sounds like those affected will at least be assisted as they exit, but now would probably be an opportune time to shed a tear for UIQ as we knew it."


wow, awesome decision by sling to resource development on that UIQ client rather than improve the existing winmobile or symbian versions. epic fail by whatever they jokingly call product management over there.

MegaZone said: There is a very, very large installed based of UIQ devices out there and existing demand for SPM for UIQ. Even if UIQ phones were no longer sold starting today there would be good reason to support it. But that leads into the next point - UIQ phones continue to be sold, and will continue to be sold for some time yet. Both SonyEricsson and Motorola still sell UIQ based phones. While it is true that both plan to phase UIQ out of their product lines, that will take some time. And the existing phones will probably remain in use for quite a bit longer. It is actually probably better than we got it out when we did, giving it a longer product life. It was a good decision to support UIQ and use the resources as they were, there is more demand for UIQ as a whole than the handful of devices not supported by the WinMob and S60 versions, so there is a higher ROI.

Actually, according to the very expensive Gartner, IDC, and Forrester market research that my company pays for each year, what you stated is completely incorrect. 

either they're charging us several million dollars a year for completely innacurate market research, or more likely, this is the excuse you're telling us or yourselves rather than admit it was a bad decision.

as far as i can tell by looking at the numbers, UIQ has very little or almost no market penetration across all major geographies, (including Asia Pac), which would probably explain why its been dropped by all handset manufacturers, publically ridiculed by its founding company, and all of the employees have been let go. 

in fact, just based on the marketshare numbers i have, it would make more sense, although it would be technically impossible, to support the t-mobile sidekick, rather than UIQ.

Well, Symbian S60 market share is about to get a whole lot bigger, again. Besides the e71, these guys need to support the new touch screen 5800 XpressMusic. Truly a multimedia powerhouse and a potentially strong world wide iPhone competitor.

Come on Sling, let's get your act together! Nokia smartphones are going to be around a lot longer than UIQ and users will most likely trade up to them as UIQ dries up.

2008 is almost over, you must know at this point where iphone and BB development stand? When can we expect an S60 update?

Yep, same here. They looked at the OS and said "sure, it'll work on your phone!" Looks like we have to wait until 09 at the earliest to get any action on the e71.

Like the others I'm disappointed that the E71 didn't make the last drop. I'm especially curious about what breaks the app - a screen res issue?
I think that developing for the e71 may prove to be a stronger business case than even the big gun N-series in North America. I see ads for the device in mainstream mags like Time now. I use one for work - shame I can't use it for play.
BTW, I tried out the pre-release 5800 touch screen at Adobe MAX last week - to not develop for that excellent phone would leave me scratching my head.
In any case, Sling will have to cover more S60s - or someone else will: case in point, the iPhone will be running Flash, proving that things change fast in the mobile world.

Nokia E63 might prove to be a bigger player in the market. Cheaper than the E71, 3.5mm headphone jack (good grief finally), same Qwerty appeal. E63-3 model slated for the Americas I believe. (edit: typo)
Love the large screen on the BB Bold, but you look like an uber-dork with that massive thing clipped to your belt. These Nokias just slip right into your shirt pocket. Stylin.

Well the E71 and E63 are basically the same device, so if Sling wants to finally wake up and support the E71, the E63 will be supported by default...

tank said: the e63 has no 3g and a couple of other things. the e71x seems like a good idea but if you use ATT then you have to get their PDS plan. with my e71 i can use the $20 media plan

Good call, I missed that re. 3G - but there it is in the spec. Dare I ask what hobbling or bloatware the x in e71x represents?

In any case, providing the economy doesn't leave me growing turnips and wearing a burlap sack, I think I might be making a 5800 my weekend toy. I will need a TV alternative.

MegaZone said: The E71 was too late to make our last product update for the Symbian S60 client which released a few months ago. We have received a number of requests for it and it will probably be part of the next S60 update. I can't promise it will, but the odds seem good. However, right now we're focused on the Blackberry and iPhone clients. And, unlike an update coming for WinMob 6.1, the work required for the E71 is more extensive so it isn't something we pop out quickly. The Symbian UIQ client work has completely and it is being prepared for release. UIQ has *huge* demand in some countries. The mobile market is like that, some countries UIQ is unheard of, others UIQ is a leading platform. Symbian S60 is the same way, big in some areas, not so popular in others.

Sorry to be so blunt but were you dropped as a child? UIQ has a large marketshare where exactly? Can you name even one UIQ device that has been announced recently? Can you name any manufacturer that even makes a UIQ device anymore? Are you aware that UIQs two biggest manufacturers SE and Moto just dropped the platform? Even at its peak it never was anything close to S60 and that was way back in the P800/P900 days years ago. Please refrain from running your mouth off about topics in which you have no idea. 

So if UIQ has *huge* demand somewhere why isn't anyone announcing products using it? Isn't there money to be made in selling UIQ according to you? What UIQ phone released in the last century are you tagetting? Has any recent UIQ phone sold "well"? 

Symbian S60 is big everywhere except the US, but oddly enough the E71 is the one S60 phone that has had relatively large success in the US. I believe there are 1.1 million sold in the US and its users are usually tech savvy individuals. In fact tech savvy enough to just get Hava.