Changing of guards

UIQ Technology Staff Put On "Notice Of Dismissal"
Tuesday November 11, 7:53 am ET By Dianne See Morrison paidContent.org

This wasn't entirely unexpected, given Nokia's purchase of Symbian. Staff at UIQ Technology, the Symbian-based mobile application development platform and graphical interface, were warned that they were facing layoffs following the decision by its co-owners Sony Ericsson and Motorola to stop using its software. Allaboutsymbian.com reports that following the company's board meeting last Wednesday, it was feared that UIQ would have to cease operations immediately. Sony Ericsson, however, has stepped in and will fund the company on a month-by-month basis to allow the company to figure out its options. The Symbian Foundation is supposed to take the best pieces from the various interfaces UIQ, MOAP, and S60 and combine them into a single interface layer, but as the Register notes, what this really means is "co-opting interesting features into the next version of S60 - leaving MOAP and UIQ developers in the cold."

RAZR Burned
Posted at 3:08 PM PT on November 10, 2008 Digital Daily by John Paczkowski

The Motorola Razr’s 12-quarter streak as the No. 1-ranked handset in the United States has finally been broken–by Apple, of all companies. According to a survey by NPD, the Razr V3 slipped to second place behind Apple’s iPhone 3G in the third quarter, apparently a victim of its own outdated design. “The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. “Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features.” An interesting trend. Especially, since smartphones tend to be quite a bit pricier than their dumbphone counterparts. Indeed, AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., offers the device for $200 with a two-year contract, while it offers Motorola’s RAZR V3xx Platinum for $0.01. Seems $200 beats free, or essentially free, even in the ugliest of economic times–as long as it’s emblazoned with an Apple logo.