Europe
: Sharp Corporation ( Abeno-ku, Osaka: President Katsuhiko Machida
) and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan, Inc. (SEMCJ) [Konan
Minato-ku, Tokyo: President Yukio Kubota] today jointly announced
an agreement to co-develop the base software and to share selected
hardware for 3G FOMA (Freedom of Multimedia Access) mobile phones
for NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
In the area of
software development, Sharp and SEMCJ will take NTT DoCoMo’s
software platform licence which uses the Symbian OSTM supplied by
Symbian and use it as the basis to co-develop new software for FOMA
phones. Symbian OS has become the most popular and highly regarded
smartphone OS in the world. This success has lead to content developers
creating a wide range of high quality and exciting applications for
the operating system, further enhancing its appeal and enabling phone
users to enjoy high-quality, multi-media and entertainment phones.
Sharp and SEMCJ
will also share some selected hardware, working together to build
an efficient development environment by sharing both software and
hardware development resources. Using the co-developed technology
as the basis for new mobile phones, Sharp and SEMCJ hope to realize
appealing and attractive FOMA phones which are unique to each brand.
"We are very
pleased to work with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan, Inc.”,
said Masafumi Matsumoto, Corporate Executive Director and Group General
Manager of Communication Systems Group, Sharp Corporation. “Through
this agreement, we look forward to working with SEMCJ to develop the
base software for new products so we can launch exciting new Sharp
handsets to the market.
“We are
very happy to collaborate with Sharp Corporation on FOMA development,”
said Yukio Kubota, President of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications
Japan, Inc. “With this collaboration, we will be able to develop
the software base for FOMA phones quickly and efficiently. This will
enable us to concentrate on application development and create appealing
FOMA phones which are unique to Sony Ericsson and appealing to phone
users.”
Following today’s
announcement, Sharp and SEMCJ will finalize the details of the cooperation.
A concrete schedule for the development of new phones will be decided
on in conjunction with NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
FOMA is a registered
trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries. NTT DoCoMo's
FOMA service is available only to subscribers in Japan.
Other products and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective companies.