Sony Ericsson and Sharp Announce Co-development for 3G handsets

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 OS™ 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.