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If I didn’t own an S60 device today, I would’ve owned a UIQ one. Yes, that’s a fact, and I have considered many times jumping on the UIQ bandwagon. I was even this close to getting a P1i, but eventually I didn’t. UIQ has always been a mystery to me, a world so similar to S60, yet so attractive because it looked different, more mature, more “whole”, but also more crippled and with much less improvements. Earlier this month, the Sony Ericson loyalist, Karun, wrote about what went wrong with UIQ. It’s definitely worth a read because it points out UIQ’s strengths and weaknesses.

Maybe Sony Ericson were sensing the inevitable dawn of UIQ and despite the ink that was spilled by users begging them to get back on track, the demise kept getting near. Now UIQ is officially dead in blatant words or “UIQ didn’t attract the operator, manufacturer or consumer interest needed to stop it failing” as they like to put it, in smoother words. Developers have also been urged to start working on S60 SDKs. Motorola, who owns 50% of the UIQ shares just didn’t have a word to say.

The only people who will mourn this loss are those who were passionate about UIQ. I know a few myself. But for many of us, S60 fanatics, the death of UIQ is a new dawn. It means that there’s a new manufacturer on the S60 board, and he’s known for making top-notch handsets: the competition will be getting tighter in the S60 field, and we like it! Rumor has it that the next Sony Ericson S60 handset should be around very soon, some say 3rd quarter of this year, others say 1st quarter of 2009. We’re betting on the second.

Also with Symbian going Open Source, we wonder whether Sony Ericson could import some of its expertize from the UIQ world and introduce it in its S60 devices. Hm, leaves us dreaming and waiting for more.

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