In an announcement on Sony Ericcson’s developer page today, the manufacturer has announced the launch of a dedicated SDK for the Xperia Panel Interface that serves as the primary user interface on the soon to be released Windows Mobile 6.1 device.
The SDK is composed of a Microsoft Visual Studio plug in and a suite that includes a device emulator, templates, documents and sample code that can be deployed in HTML or written in Visual C++ for native deployment across devices.
The purpose for the SDK is to emphasize the depth of personalization options found in the device, as well as encouraging third-party development in order to find multiple uses for the interface aside from the standard panel set. The SDK is currently in Beta form and is expected to be updated frequently before and after the launch of the device, which Sony Ericsson has not confirmed with a hard date as of yet outside of the fourth quarter timeline.
