UIQ files for bankruptcy

UIQ Technology, which makes software based on the Symbian operating system, has filed for bankruptcy in a Swedish court. The company was originally part of Symbian and is now jointly owned by Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Its future has looked very uncertain since Nokia acquired Symbian and founded the non-profit Symbian Foundation last year. [Source: Telecoms.com]

Motorola ditching Symbian and Linux OS phones

Motorola is going to concentrate on selling phones that use Google's Android operating system, Microsoft Windows Mobile and its own system in a bit to cut costs. Company co-CEO Sanjay Jha said Motorola would be dropping support for Symbian UIQ and the Java-Linux platform. It's also no longer planning to sell its mobile handset business in Q3 2009 but says it'll take longer. As part of the company's reorganisation, two thousand jobs are being cut from its mobile business, with three thousand - 4.5% of its global workforce - going overall. [Sources: WashingtonPost.com; Press release]

Go-ahead for Sony Ericsson/Motorola and Nokia/Navteq deals

The European Commission has cleared the way for Sony Ericsson to sell 50% of its stake in UI Holdings - the company behind the UIQ interface - to Motorola. And, elsewhere in the world, NAVTEQ's shareholders have voted in favour of Nokia's takeover, with over 99% of votes at the special meeting in favour of the merger agreement. [EC PDF document, Navteq press release]