Ecrisson, STMicroelectronics form mobile phone joint venture

In yet another move seemingly aimed at Google’s Open Handset Alliance, Ericsson and STMicroelectronics are forming a joint venture (JV) to create software and semiconductors for cellphones. The move comes after rival Nokia bought out Symbian and made it open source, and Google’s Android seems poised to enter the market.

There is a major push toward the creation of ecosystems around mobile devices, and we note that there is a similar drive to create vertical partnerships through APIs at the operator level. It seems clear that the industry has decided that developers are the key to their future.