Motorola announced it will acquire a 50 percent stake in mobile software developer UIQ Technology AB, which is currently wholly owned by Sony Ericsson. Financial terms were not disclosed--Sony Ericsson acquired UIQ Technology from Symbian in February of this year. Under the agreement, Motorola and Sony Ericsson will collaborate on and jointly invest in the development of the UIQ open user interface, committing to advancing the platform as an independent, vendor-agnostic UI for smartphones and multimedia devices. At a press conference Monday, Sony Ericsson president and CEO Miles Flint said the deal "demonstrates the increasing importance of open operating systems for all handset vendors… by working together in a strong, mutually beneficial partnership, handset vendors can reduce development costs and help operators launch more consistent services with greater efficiency."

For more on the Motorola/Sony Ericsson deal:
- read this release [1]

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