It’s official: Motorola drops Linux Java and Symbian UIQ, embraces Android

by Darcy LaCouvee on October 30, 2008 4:33 pm

In the company’s quarterly earnings call, Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha confirmed that he is reducing the number of cell phone platforms that his company supports. Symbian OS and the UIQ user interface, as seen on devices like the Motorola Z10, will no longer be used except for devices that the company has already committed to building. Motorola’s own Linux Java platform (originally called JUIX) suffers the same fate.

Jha said that his company will use Windows Mobile and Android for its mid-tier and high-end handsets for both consumers and enterprise. That’s great news for newcomer Android.

The less good news is that the first Motorola Android phone won’t be ready until the holiday shopping season in 2009 – a full year away.

So while a device is coming, it won’t be here for quite some time.

Darcy LaCouvee

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Darcy is the editor in chief at Android Authority. He follows the latest trends and is extremely passionate about mobile technology. With a keen eye for spotting emerging trends and reporting them, he works hard to bring you the best analysis, updates, and reports on all things Android. Darcy lives and breathes the latest mobile technology, and believes Android will be on a billion devices in the not too distant future.

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Darcy LaCouvee

EDITOR IN CHIEF

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Comments

Anders Rundgren

This will also force SonyEricsson to abandon UIQ since the developer base becomes too small.

According to insiders in SE this is actually close to a fact since going to S60 is not very attractive and symbianfoundation.org has yet to deliver. Personally, I don’t think symbianfoundation has any real chance since there is nothing like .NET CF in Symbian, while Android is getting closer although not yet there.
http://www.androidauthority.com/ Stefan Frank

I agree. I don’t envy Sony Ericsson’s position. I haven’t really liked a UIQ device of theirs much since the P800, so I won’t miss them if they drop Symbian totally. I just don’t see them doing the S60 thing, though I am a fan of S60 in general.