UIQ developer support gave kind of an answer here. Still would like to hear something from a device manufacturer too.

Hi guys,

Sony Ericsson will continue to ship UIQ phones for quite some time, with the G700 and G900 recently coming to market, and Motorola has publicly said it will do the same. So nothing will stop immediately. We would like to encourage our developer community to continue developing for this UIQ application market.

Obviously the start of the Symbian Foundation will have an impact on Sony Ericsson’s future strategy. Over time, Sony Ericsson will be moving to the Symbian Foundation platform. This means that UIQ Technology will need to find a new place in the ecosystem. Sony Ericsson is currently talking to Motorola and the management of UIQ Technology to explore different options to find the best role UIQ Technology can play.

More information will be communicated in the future when the plans for the Symbian Foundataion are clearer.

BR
Martin

Sony Ericsson Developer Support

Thanks for this information.

I understand that it is quite difficult to release information about future products especially. Still, this situation -- if any -- would be a place to give a clear and unambiguous roadmap for developers on how you plan to proceed. We need to be sure of the near future market of UIQ software -- what number (at least, if not models/specs) of devices are (even possibly) coming out from SE and when, based on which version of UIQ. Then, we need -- when you get your plans together -- a clear roadmap on the transition to the future Symbian generic platform. The latter can take over a year, so as a developer I am not expecting much soon. There is a wide chasm to leap here and we cannot do that without your support, cooperation and information.

But for near future we need to know if it is still profitable to invest in UIQ development. What I would like to see is Sony Ericsson walking with us to the future and showing us the road ahead so we can safely continue developing to the (IMO technologically better) UIQ and then later on migrate to the generic Symbian Foundation platform. Whatever that becomes to be may or may not be up to Nokia alone more or less, but those are bigger games to play that a normal third party developer can just watch in awe what happens when the dust settles.

So we need Information -- very much of it. Without begging for it. Details. Visions. Support. We need to know if you yourself are not still sure of some place in the path, and we need to know that you will tell us when you know. This would make a developer much more happier. I believe we are not coming after you with a bunch of lawyers if you tell us that the information is not carved in stone but can change, as long as we are aware where you are heading at even if the plans change.