Sony Ericsson still hasn't gotten o­n the FOMA train bound for the future, which is why there's no "SO901i" phone or some such, but that's apparently changing shortly.

Sharp and Sony Ericsson have announced they'll be cooperating for development of new FOMA handsets.

Sharp and Sony Ericsson Communications, with respect to NTT DoCoMo's FOMA handset development, have announced that they will cooperate for development of key software and hardware, to be jointly owned.

The two companies have reached an agreement of joint ownership for development of common FOMA handset software and hardware sections. This is reportedly to enhance the efficiency of handset development. Also, the OS used will be the Symbian OS.

As part of this joint operation, Sharp and Sony Ericsson plan to make their development system more efficient. The handsets themselves will are planned to continue to be offered under the separate "SH" and "SO" brands.

On the software development front, NEC & Panasonic Mobile Communications, as well as Fujitsu & Mitsubishi Electric are cooperating. Sharp is already progressing with FOMA handset development, but currently, Sony Ericsson has not announced any FOMA handsets. The companies have said that nary do they know when the fruits of their joint efforts will become evident.

Here's a Sony Ericsson logo for shits and giggles:


Inspired by:
http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/21603.html

Press Release (Sharp):
http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/041129-a.html

Press Release (Sony Ericsson):
http://www.sonyericsson.co.jp/company/press/20041129_foma.html