Sendo Can't Get Microsoft Source; Ditches Windows

An anonymous submitter wrote: "Just when you thought the award-winning data leech Microsoft had become invincible... cellphone manufacturer Sendo, in a statement on the front page of its web site, announces the termination of its Z100 smartphone development on the Microsoft platform, licensing the rival Symbian from Nokia instead. (Further reports by ZDnet and Heise.)"

Comments

Slashdotted - Karma capped, just trying to help

[br0ck]

Sendo Z100 NOT TO LAUNCH

Company Statement
Sendo has terminated its Smartphone development program utilising the Microsoft Windows Powered Smartphone 2002 software.

As a result, Sendo regrets to announce that it will not be shipping the Z100 Smartphone.

It has been a very difficult decision for Sendo given its leadership position in the development of smart devices. We are disappointed that we will not be able to ship the Z100 given the high level of interest shown in the device.

Although a set back, we are pleased to announce today that we have licensed the Series 60 platform from Nokia for our smartphone category. We believe this will create the opportunity for us to continue as a lead player in the development of smartphone products for 2003.

SENDO CHOOSES NOKIA'S SERIES 60 PLATFORM FOR ITS SMART PHONES
Thu Nov 7 2002
Sendo, a British mobile phone manufacturer, today announced that the company has decided to license Series 60 Platform from Nokia for its smart phone category. The Series 60 is a software platform for feature- and application rich smart phones that Nokia licenses to mobile handset manufacturers. The platform is optimised to run on top of the Symbian OS. Sendo joins as the newest member to the Series 60 licensing community with Matsushita, Samsung, Siemens and Nokia.

"Earlier this fall we reviewed our smart phone strategy. While our mission of providing customers with feature-rich and ubiquitous devices remains unaltered, seeing that the Series 60 fully embraces both our mission and the new strategy we decided to approach Nokia," said Hugh Brogan, Chief Executive Officer of Sendo Holdings Plc. "The platform utilises open standards and technologies, such as MMS and Java , jointly developed by the industry. The platform is robust, yet uniquely flexible, bringing great benefits to licensees, operators, developers and consumers."

"We welcome Sendo, a pioneer in smart phone development, to join our Series 60 community. We see that a combination of Sendo's technical expertise and growing market presence will bring significant contribution to the mobile market with Series 60 devices. Interoperable solutions that are built on open and common industry standards are proving to be the winning formula in meeting demands of business users and consumers alike," said Niklas Savander, Vice President and General Manager, Nokia Mobile Software.

Nokia licenses Series 60 Platform as a source code. The model enables licensees to contribute to the development of the platform while fully executing their individual business strategy, brand and customer requirements in fast developing and highly competitive mobile communications market. Licensees will be able to include the Series 60 into their own smart phone designs, thus speeding up the rollout of new phone models at lower costs.

The Series 60 is a comprehensive software platform for smart phones, created for mobile phone users that demand easy-to-use, one-hand operated handsets with high-quality colour screens, rich communications and enhanced applications. The Series 60 platform consists of the key telephony and personal information management applications, the browser and messaging clients, as well as a complete and modifiable user interface, all designed to run on top of the Symbian OS, an operating system for advanced, data enabled mobile phones.

Can't get source?

[Twid]

I'm not sure where the "can't get source" comment in the title came from. I clicked through to the announcement, read both stories, and even translated the german text, and nothing in there said they terminated the agreement due to inability to get the source.

Re:Can't get source?

[lovebyte]

This Reuters article explains it.
He said one reason for the switch was that Sendo could get access to the source code for Nokia software and therefore customize products. It could not do that with Microsoft.

The Reg has it

[buzzdecafe]

Sendo junks MS smartphone, joins Nokia camp

BTW, What happened to theregus.com? It seems to be gone. :-(

A little bit of research..

[tagevm]

...would have been nice, before giving Nokia full ownership of Symbian. As the article says the licensed software is optimised to run on Symbian, but it is not Symbian. From the Symbian website: "Symbian was established as a private independent company in June 1998 and is owned by Ericsson, Nokia, Matsushita (Panasonic), Motorola, Psion, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Headquartered in the UK, it has offices in Japan, Sweden, UK and the USA."

Quick look at Series 60 and Programming for it

[burgburgburg]

Quick look at Series 60 here

Book description of "Programming for the Series 60 Platform and Symbian OS" here

Re:It IS a big deal

[Surak]

Microsoft is trying to hook it's claws into all things digital (including phones, appliances and cars).

I work in the auto industry as a sysadmin, and I can confirm that last one for y'all if you're sitting their scratching your heads. I picked up an automotive industry trade rag one day and there it was, in big letters on a yellow BMW: Microsoft Windows CE for Automotive. Had the Windows CE logo and everything. I'm not even kidding. I wish I were. ;)