UIQ files for bankruptcy

UIQ Technology, a mobile phone software company jointly owned by Motorola and Sony Ericsson, has filed for bankruptcy in a district court in Sweden.

The outlook for UIQ, which focuses on developing an open user interface, has looked bleak ever since the Symbian Foundation was formed last year and Nokia, which now fully owns Symbian, announced it would be adopting a royalty-free software model for the Symbian mobile OS.

Motorola and Sony Ericsson, UIQ’s backers, then decided to merge its software efforts with the Symbian platform and to stop funding its JV.

“There are no opportunities to create a new line of business in the current financial climate,” Johan Sandberg, UIQ CEO, told Reuters.

UIQ was originally part of Symbian but was bought by Sony Ericsson, for an undisclosed sum, in November 2006. Motorola acquired its 50 percent stake a year later.

UIQ has around 200 employees.