UIQ files for bankruptcy
Published by Rafe Blandford at 15:03 UTC, January 5th 2009
Following a board meeting on 29th December the board of UIQ Technology resolved to file for bankruptcy. This follows on from the news, in early November, that staff had been put on notice and a temporary transition period was being funded by Sony Ericsson. With that period over, with no alternative investor available and given the current economic climate the board had no choice but to shutter the company.
Approximately 200 people were still working for UIQ when the announcement was made. Responsibility for the operating and winding down of UIQ Technology falls to the insolvency administrator appointed by the Blekinge district court.
"There are no opportunities to create a new line of business in the current financial climate," UIQ Chief Executive Johan Sandberg told Reuters.
Johan Sandberg, CEO of UIQ Technology said, "We got into a position where we have no customers, no product to sell, and therefore no income either" (rough translation from Swedish).
While this outcome has been the most likely since the announcement of the Symbian foundation last year the decline has been rapid. Sony Ericsson's decision to switch, sooner rather than later, to the Symbian Foundation Platform (effectively S60) and Motorola cancellation of its substantial 2009 UIQ portfolio (and switch to Android), both accelerated the decline of UIQ Technology.
Sources: Sydostran, BLT and Reuters.
Categories: Developer, Industry
Platforms: UIQ 3
News Discussion
Were they hoping some other company would come in and use the platform on some totally new class of device?
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
I thought that the Nokia Foundation (or whatever it's called) were going to use some UIQ code; will this still be possible if UIQ disappears without trace?
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And even if using real code would be on the table, you needed only a few key UIQ programmers to assist you, but in no way UIQ as a complete, still-functioning company.