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UIQ files for bankruptcy as Symbian Foundation gears up for battle

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 6:11PM EST
BGR

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“There are no opportunities to create a new line of business in the current financial climate.” Those are the words of UIQ CEO Johan Sandberg as he informed Reuters UK that UIQ Technology AB was filing for bankruptcy. UIQ, owned in majority by Sony Ericsson and Motorola, received a death blow from which it could not recover as a result of the formation of the Symbian Foundation, and with the introduction of Nokia’s touch-friendly mobile operating system, S60 5th Edition. UIQ first began cutting its workforce back in July as its majority holders moved to the Symbian platform. Both Sony Ericsson and Motorola joined the Open Handset Alliance as well, leaving little room for the UIQ OS which has struggled with adoption throughout its lifespan. Now that Symbian will be available to partners free of charge thanks to the Symbian Foundation, the world’s most popular smartphone OS proved to be too much for UIQ to compete with. UIQ currently employs approximately 200 people and it has yet to make a formal statement regarding its bankruptcy.

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Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.