UIQ Fast Track is over; Here are my impressions

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:06:04 +0000

Well folks, UIQ Fast Track is over. Before coming to the event, I thought I’ll be bored as hell, listening exclusively to the developers. I was so wrong. Yeah, I have spoke with many developers from companies around the world, but it was surprisingly nice experience — this is NOT to say that I have anything against developers, I was just concerned they would be to techy for me. They are quite opinionated and just like me (and I guess many of you folks) are eagerly watching the industry and are trying to get their share of the action on all possible platforms. Before the show Dario Soltani from Symply Symbian contacted me to hang around during the show. He’s a great guy and we had a fun time commenting and talking with the people from different companies. Got the best Walkman phone! Yap, I’ve scored the Sony Ericsson W960i . I’m still not sure whether I’ll be able to keep it, but I’m looking forward to test it in the coming days and weeks. Naturally, unboxing is the first thing I’m going to record. So stay tuned for that and some real-life experience, as I intend to use the phone as my primary device. Sébastien the man I should also mention UIQ’s PR man - Sébastien Peirone. I’ve met him for the first time during the 3GSM in Barcelona, when we sat near fountain commenting Spanish girls… He managed to get me in the Fast Track and was always there, not just for me, but for all of the attendees. He’s a great guy to hang out with, even though he refused to drink the fine Hungarian wine in the after hours. Keep up the great work man! Next stop - U.S.A. That’s not actually my next stop, but the next stop for UIQ Technology. As I’ve already wrote before, they will be establishing the representation office to support Motorola’s efforts. This may translates into U.S. mobile phone users having an opportunity to try out great UIQ-based devices, among first the Z8 and (hopefully soon) the Z10 . Plus, it may also speed-up the development of the upcoming UIQ 3.2 and then UIQ 4.0. And, the podcast is coming… Dario and I had a chance to catch Nanesh from UIQ — the guy whom I’ve already interviewed — and created a podcast with him. In addition, two of us along with Per Ola Saether from Norwey-based mBricks AS ranted about the overall state of the mobile industry. The audio is still in pre-production phase, but it’s coming sooner rather than later. Stay tuned… ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:UIQ Fast Track developer event coming to Budapest, Hungary on November 29-30I'm going to UIQ Fast Track in Budapest, Hungary!UIQ Fast Track: Keynotes recapUIQ Open ends soonUIQ Open winners announced

UIQ Fast Track: Keynotes recap

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:22:45 +0000

Well folks here I am sitting at the Hilton’s lobby writing you about all the things I’ve heard today in the keynote presentations at the UIQ Fast Track. Before I start, I would like to mention that the atmosphere here is great. People are quite excited about the prospect of the platform and there are many representatives from software development companies eagerly waiting to pitch anyone who’s interested. Back to keynote… First Naresh Chouhan, Head of Developer Programs at UIQ, welcomed us, briefly going through the event’s agenda and joking about how he hate BlackBerrys. Yeah, they are great for some things, but for other… you better get something more powerful. Following him, Elisabet Melin - VP of UIQ’s marketing, introduced the platform and the Fast Track developer events. According to her, the 4th Fast Track event is attended by 150 people from 50 companies and from 20 countries. Naturally, most of the attendants are from Hungary, where UIQ has its office. Their other office is in London, and they are headquartered is in Ronneby, Southern Sweden. In total, UIQ employs 350 people. She also talked about UIQ Technology — they are “user interface and framework provider” which DOESN’T want to compete with the members of its ecosystem by making applications (unlike S60?). Next in line was Abbas Sumar, Application Acquisition Manager at Sony Ericsson. He talked about the P1i’s successful launch and the opportunity for developers. According to Abbas, on average over 40% of P1i users download an application to their smartphones during the first month. Then he went further praising UIQ and even calling it the “platform of the first,” while citing that it’s the UIQ powered device that was the first touchscreen-equipped that also supported handwriting recognition smartphone (Sony Ericsson P800), first GPS-equipped smartphone (Motorola A920), and the first WiFi-enabled smartphone. The Sony Ericsson’s just-about-to-be-launched W960i Walkman smartphone was also one of the topics of his presentation. He argued the UIQ devices are made for both business AND fun, naturally illustrating the latter with the W960i. We had a chance to see TrackID, the new Walkman UI and even some gaming demonstrated… UIQ’s second shareholder, Motorola, also sent its representative to talk about Moto’s UIQ plans. Paul D. Leeper, director of Ecosystem and Market Development, talked about various market challenges for developers, stating Motorola we’ll be there to help interested companies make/port apps to Z8 and other upcoming Moto UIQ-based smartphones. Interesting stat he brought was that at every second, 4 new babies are born on Earth, while at the same time 32 phones are sold. Can you illustrate THE opportunity better? At the end of the keynote presentation, we saw Naresh Chouhan again, who teased us about the upcoming phones without revealing much about it — we saw 5 silhouettes on one slide. He did however, said that UIQ is preparing central application directory which will be open to all companies and individuals who develop for the platform. Nice! And that’s it for the keynotes. While I’m writing this, Commercial, Developer and Advanced Development tracks are on their way. Stay tuned as we bring you more… ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:UIQ Fast Track developer event coming to Budapest, Hungary on November 29-30I'm going to UIQ Fast Track in Budapest, Hungary!Interview with UIQ's Elisabet Melin and Naresh ChouhanUIQ Open ends soonUIQ Open winners announced

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UIQ Fast Track is over; Here are my impressions

UIQ Fast Track: Keynotes recap