In somewhat suprising news (at least to me) long time Microsoft stalwart Sendo has liscensed the Series 60 from Nokia. Yes Sendo, long time friend of Microsoft and maker of the Z100 (the first announced MS Smartphone) will be using Series 60. Update: Sendo are dropping the Z100 and stopping all work on MS Smartphones. It is a full scale defection.

The question has to be why? One reason might be that Sendo want to keep their options open, but another (speculatively) is that they consider Series 60 a better OS. Is this perhaps hinted at in the press release?

This represent a major hit in the smartphone wars and only makes Symbian look even stronger.

Update:
It appears that Sendo have dropped the Z100, it will not be developed, nor will Sendo continue to work with Microsoft according to Reuters and The Register. Microsoft own a considerable part of Sendo after investing £12 million in them, the situation with regards to this investment remains unclear. A defection on this scale is a very big blow to Microsoft, and will seriously damage its position in Europe.

The full press release is quoted below:

[quote="Sendo and Nokia Press Release"]Sendo chooses Nokia’s Series 60 platform for its smart phones

(November 07, 2002)

Sendo, a British mobile phone manufacturer, today announced that the company has decided to license Series 60 Platform from Nokia for its smart phone category. The Series 60 is a software platform for feature- and application rich smart phones that Nokia licenses to mobile handset manufacturers. The platform is optimised to run on top of the Symbian OS. Sendo joins as the newest member to the Series 60 licensing community with Matsushita, Samsung, Siemens and Nokia.

“Earlier this fall we reviewed our smart phone strategy. While our mission of providing customers with feature-rich and ubiquitous devices remains unaltered, seeing that the Series 60 fully embraces both our mission and the new strategy we decided to approach Nokia,“ said Hugh Brogan, Chief Executive Officer of Sendo Holdings Plc. “The platform utilises open standards and technologies, such as MMS and Java(TM), jointly developed by the industry. The platform is robust, yet uniquely flexible, bringing great benefits to licensees, operators, developers and consumers.”

“We welcome Sendo, a pioneer in smart phone development, to join our Series 60 community. We see that a combination of Sendo’s technical expertise and growing market presence will bring significant contribution to the mobile market with Series 60 devices. Interoperable solutions that are built on open and common industry standards are proving to be the winning formula in meeting demands of business users and consumers alike," said Niklas Savander, Vice President and General Manager, Nokia Mobile Software.

Nokia licenses Series 60 Platform as a source code. The model enables licensees to contribute to the development of the platform while fully executing their individual business strategy, brand and customer requirements in fast developing and highly competitive mobile communications market. Licensees will be able to include the Series 60 into their own smart phone designs, thus speeding up the rollout of new phone models at lower costs.

The Series 60 is a comprehensive software platform for smart phones, created for mobile phone users that demand easy-to-use, one-hand operated handsets with high-quality colour screens, rich communications and enhanced applications. The Series 60 platform consists of the key telephony and personal information management applications, the browser and messaging clients, as well as a complete and modifiable user interface, all designed to run on top of the Symbian OS, an operating system for advanced, data enabled mobile phones.

About Sendo
Sendo, headquartered in the United Kingdom, started shipping its first terminals to operator customers in Europe and Asia in May 2001. The company is now shipping five products in over twenty countries in Europe and Asia, with the USA soon to follow. Sendo offers high-performance, competitively priced, reliable products and services to the cellular market. Sendo has been established with the needs of the wireless carriers and consumers in mind. The company offers a complete custom program, from exclusively branded phones, matched fulfillment programs and software with dedicated services. Details of the company are available at www.sendo.com.

About Nokia
Nokia (NYSE:NOK) is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and reliable solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
[/quote]

and from Reuters (thanks langdona):
[quote="Reuters"]
UK's Sendo drops Microsoft software for Nokia
Thursday November 7, 6:31 am ET


LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - British mobile phone maker Sendo said on Thursday it had abandoned a long-awaited Microsoft-based (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) phone and chosen to go with Nokia (NOK1V.HE) software instead.
Despite being one of the launching partners for the Microsoft Smartphone programme, Sendo Chief Executive Hugh Brogan said it had given up on the Sendo Z100 Smartphone that had been due for launch within weeks.

"There will not be products based on Microsoft. There is not going to be a Z100," Brogan said.

Niklas Savander, who is in charge of Nokia mobile software, said Sendo has agreed to license its Series 60 software -- a suite of applications that runs on the operating system of Symbian
[/quote]