Sony Ericsson Joins Google’s Open Handset Alliance

Ed Sutherland ()

Sony Ericsson Tuesday joined the Open Handset Alliance, becoming the latest cell phone maker to voice support for Google’s Android operating system.

Sony Ericsson has said it plans to adopt the Android software for several phones during 2009. The Sony Ericsson Joins Google’s Open Handset Alliancephone maker will drop t he Symbian UIQ phone software in favor of Google’s open-source Android platform, reports said Tuesday.

In a statement, Sony Ericsson announced it hoped to use Andriod to develop successful handsets along the lines of its popular Walkman MP3 players and Cyber-shot digital cameras.

Along with Sony Ericsson, handset makers Motorola, Samsung, LG and HTC have announced plans to offer Android-based phones. Sony Ericsson was among 14 companies which Tuesday joined the Alliance.

On the carrier side, Sprint may become the latest to announce support for Android. In a possible signal of its intentions, Sprint’s mobile developer’s conference slated for later this week includes a keynote speech by Rich Miner, Google’s vice president of mobile technology.

In the past, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has said the Android wasn’t “good enough to put the Sprint brand on it.”

In November, AT&T said it was still looking at Android, but CEO Ralph De Le Vega said the platform “needs to open up even more to offer a wider array of non-Google applications.”

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T-Mobile USA in September introduced the G1, an Android-based phone made by HTC.

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About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • http://UniversiPod.info Merigot Gueu

    To me the Alliance of Google and Sony Ericcson is just another step ahead to not only enhance the ability to better connect in the daily lives of the end users(us). Mobile Phones World for that reason can only move forward at the rate technology is evolving. It is a good thing.