KARLSKRONA, Sweden-Johan Sandberg freely admits that UIQ Technology AB, based in Ronneby, Sweden, is not exactly a major force in the hotly contested mobile-phone operating system market.
“We are more of a niche player,” Sandberg said, smiling. “But the niche isn’t so bad.”
His low-slung humor apparent, Sandberg showed off a handful of advanced mobile phones-including the well-received Sony Ericsson P800-running UIQ’s technology. Standing well over 6 feet tall, Sandberg joked that the phones appear much smaller than their actual dimensions due to his size. Sandberg is chief executive officer of UIQ, which is a subsidiary of operating system company Symbian and makes one of the several user interfaces for the Symbian OS.
“There’s a place for more than one player here,” Sandberg said.
UIQ Technology plays in the same crowded field as powerhouses Nokia Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Palm Inc., and where companies like Openwave Systems Inc., SavaJe, MontaVista Software and others hope to profit. As the industry continues its frantic evolution, the idea of an operating system for wireless devices has gained rapid attention in recent years. Indeed, some see a major battle brewing on the front as software giant Microsoft looks to use its vast resources to dominate as it does in the computer industry, while others like stalwart Nokia hope to use their experience to take command.
Unperturbed, Sandberg stands in the middle of the storm, quietly pushing the UIQ version of the Symbian operating system.
“I think the smart-phone market will be big,” he said. “This is an industry moving forward.”
In the late 1990s, most of the world’s major mobile-phone vendors formed a joint venture called Symbian. The idea was to create a common operating system for all types of advanced mobile phones, which would allow applications developed for one phone in one part of the world to work on another phone in another part of the world. Essentially, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Siemens AG, Motorola Inc. and other Symbian backers hoped to foster a Windows-style software marketplace where everyone used the same platform-just without the Microsoft part of the equation.
However, the computer market and the mobile-phone market have plenty of differences, and Symbian executives quickly realized that one size would definitely not fit all. Initially, Symbian planned to develop three different graphical user interfaces, software that would sit on top of the core Symbian OS and would form the menus and icons with which users would interact. One user interface would be designed for highly advanced phones with tiny keyboards and all kinds of features-essentially small desktop computers. Another user interface would be developed for standard-style phones, with a numeric keypad geared for one-handed use. And a third user interface would be developed for pen-based devices like most personal digital assistants.
But not everything went according to plan.
Nokia decided to develop its own user interface, apart from Symbian. The company’s Series 60 platform arose from the effort, a software program and user interface based on the Symbian OS designed for one-handed use. Interest in the keyboard-style user interface faded, with Nokia’s 9210 the only device to use such a UI. The final Symbian user interface, the pen-based platform, is where UIQ landed. Interestingly, Nokia and UIQ Technology work together to ensure their platforms are compatible. Symbian executives have said that only 20 percent of a given Symbian application must be modified to be ported from one user interface to the other.
Sandberg proudly displays the power of the core Symbian OS running UIQ’s user interface. The pen-based interface is uniquely suited to Sandberg, who deftly maneuvers through the P800’s applications with his slender pen rather than his thumb. Sandberg said UIQ’s interface may seem fairly straightforward, but more work went into the software than many had expected.
“People thought it would be really easy to do,” Sandberg said.
Symbian executives originally expected it would take eight months to develop the user interface, but Sandberg said it ended up taking about two years. The UIQ user interface recently hit the market in several devices, including the P800 and a Motorola W-CDMA device.
Sandberg said UIQ so far has managed to do fairly well against its much bigger competitors. Although Nokia has sold many more devices using the Series 60 user interface, it counts just a handful of licensees. And though UIQ and Nokia compete for the same customers using the same core OS-Symbian-Sandberg describes it as a “friendly competition.” Further, Palm and Microsoft too can count only a handful of mobile-phone licensees for their platforms and user interfaces.
“They want to be able to choose,” Sandberg said of handset makers. In some cases, mobile-phone makers have a specific design in mind, and then they begin shopping for a compatible operating system. In other cases, handset makers have already decided to use a particular operating system and user interface, and design a device for the platform.
So what about UIQ’s future? Sandberg predicts a competitive marketplace, one in which Microsoft most likely will gain some significant traction. However, he said, the mobile-phone market-which is nearing an astounding 500 million units per year-will probably support a variety of operating system players. Indeed, Sandberg added, handset makers should have a range of platforms from which to choose.
“That’s the way it should be,” he said.
