UIQ has finally thrown in the towel and reportedly applied for bankruptcy in the Swedish courts.

The mobile interface developer's employees were warned their jobs were on the line back in November. Back then Sony Ericsson, one of its few remaining backers along with Motorola, said it would fund the firm's wages while it searched for a raison d'etre in the wake of the launch of the Symbian foundation in the summer.

UIQ Chief Executive Johan Sandberg reportedly told Reuters: "There are no opportunities to create a new line of business in the current financial climate."

Reuters reported that the firm has around 200 employees suggesting the payroll has already been pared back - in November 270 were warned their jobs were under threat.

We called UIQ in Sweden, but no one had got back to us at time of writing.

The firm's demise was considered inevitable once Nokia bought out its Symbian partners, then relaunched the mobile OS business as a quasi-open Foundation, with a single interface layer.

For an analysis of what went wrong, click here. ®

Related stories

• Symbian Foundation in anti-Android recruit drive (12 February 2009)
• Ericsson sharpens axe - again (21 January 2009)
• The GUI that almost conquered the pocket (21 November 2008)
• UIQ staff put on notice (10 November 2008)
• Nokia grabs control of Symbian - then gives it away (24 June 2008)
• Moto buys into UIQ (15 October 2007)