Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Nokia have each announced new developer tools to encourage innovation on their respective mobile phone software platforms. Sony Ericsson will support OpenGL ES, the application program interface that enables 3-D graphics, the company said Tuesday at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London.OpenGL is used in PCs and game consoles. Bringing it to mobile phones will allow developers to build handset applications with a similar level of graphics quality, including transparent objects on the screen, said Mikael Nerde, head of planning for content and developer programs at Sony Ericsson.Sony Ericsson will offer a software development kit for using OpenGL on its phones, along with a tutorial and discussion forum. Developers can use the tools to create games for Sony Ericsson phones based on UIQ 3, the user interface software built on top of the Symbian operating system. Nokia, meanwhile, introduced Carbide.ui Theme Edition, a developer tool that lets designers create customized user interfaces for S60 phones. The tools have new capabilities such as drag-and-drop functionality and interplay with other graphics creation tools. Developers can use them to create user interfaces for commercial uses such as branding, affinity and customer loyalty campaigns, Nokia said. Such tools help Nokia and Sony Ericsson attract developers who, in turn, can build applications that draw new customers to their phones. While both phone makers use the Symbian operating system in some of their smart phones, they use competing user interface software. UIQ, which Sony Ericsson uses in some phones, is built by a subsidiary of Symbian. Nokia licenses its own S60 user interface platform to companies that are also its competitors in the handset world, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which introduced its first S60 phone at the Symbian Show on Tuesday.-Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau)Related Links: Nokia Intros Phones, Music Recommendation Service Nokia Develops New, Short-Range Wireless Tech LG.Philips Develops Thinner Cell Phone Display Samsung Unveils 10-Megapixel Camera PhoneCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe