Submitted by: kirkland on Tuesday November 07th, 2006 at 06:51 PM EST

Sony Ericsson, the world's fourth-largest handset maker, will buy the UIQ software business for smartphones from Britain-based phone software group Symbian, the two companies said on Tuesday.

UIQ Technology makes a version of the Symbian operating system and Sony Ericsson is its most important customer. The software is used in its smartphone P990, the M600 mobile email and messaging phone, and the W950 Walkman music phone.

Symbian's main customer overall is Nokia, which uses its own Series 60 software built on the Symbian operating system. The world's biggest handset maker, Nokia is Symbian's main minority shareholder, but Sony Ericsson and other handset makers also own significant stakes.

» Full story @ Reuters