IDG News Service - During the first quarter next year, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB will start selling the first smart phone to be based on Symbian OS Version 9.1 and the UIQ 3 software platform, the company said on Monday.
The news came on the same day that UIQ Technology AB, a subsidiary of Symbian Ltd., announced a software development kit (SDK) for UIQ 3, the newest version of its software platform. UIQ 3 is based on the Symbian OS and allows software developers to write applications that will run on smart phones from different manufacturers, provided the phones run the UIQ platform. Mobile phone developers often have to rewrite or tweak applications to run on each handset; UIQ's platform aims to eliminate some of that work.
The SDK will be available to 500 developers who sign up for UIQ's developer community program and who attend the Smartphone Show, Symbian's annual conference taking place in London on Tuesday and Wednesday. The final version of the SDK will be available for download from UIQ's developer program Web site on Oct. 26.
In addition to running the latest Symbian OS, the Sony Ericsson P990 will operate on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Wi-Fi networks and will include a 2-megapixel camera. Users can view Web sites via the Opera 8 browser. The phone comes with 80MB of free memory and a 64MB memory stick. A 4GB memory stick will be available separately.
In a statement, Sony Ericsson said it is announcing the phone in advance of its availability in order to allow developers time to create applications that can be used as soon as the phone goes on sale. Developers can program in C++ or Java.
Sony Ericsson will display the phone at the Smartphone Show.
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