Sony Ericsson Is Open To Windows Phone 7, But Not Yet Decided
We heard rumours that Sony Ericsson is working on a Windows Phone 7 device. Now we have a concrete information on that rumour, cleared by Steven Walker, Head of global marketing at Sony Ericsson. At an recent interview at CES on Windows Phone 7 he told Pocket-lint in a one-to-one interview that “We are keeping a watching brief” on it.
Here is his response,
“We’ve done a lot of work with Microsoft over the years. We’ve launched a number of 6.xx products, but we made a decision not to bring a product to market in the first wave. We absolutely maintain to keep an open mind towards Windows Phone 7. We continue to engage in a relationship with Microsoft, but we haven’t made any concrete announcement about when and how we would introduce Windows Phone 7 into the portfolio”.
When asked whether Sony Ericsson will stick to Android like Motorola in their smartphones,
“We shouldn’t limit ourselves to one opportunity, but we aren’t yet ready to make any specific announcement about products. At this moment in time, there is clearly a galvanising within the industry around Android as a creditable alternative to what’s out there, and we think that’s a good thing”.
He made some more comments on Sony Ericsson’s Android and smartphone strategy, head to Pocket-lint for the full interview. I think Sony Ericsson is trying to play safer game by skipping the first generation Windows Phone 7 devices, because it don’t want to take risks poor financial results. Will Sony Ericsson make a Windows Phone 7 device ? If yes, when? How will they measure Windows Phone 7 platform’s success? When they decide to make a WP7 device at later stage, all other competitors will have huge head start. What do you think?
HTC appoints ex-Sony Ericsson VP as it looks to grow into the mass market
For better or worse, smartphones are rapidly moving from their previous niche to one of the largest segments of the phone market.
HTC aims to grow with it, and is looking to ship 3 times more phones next year than in 2010, from 20 million to 60 million in 2011, and to help them with the logistics of achieving that, they have appointed ex-Sony Ericsson VP of Global Operations Matthew Costello as its new Chief Operating Officer.
Costello will be be responsible for all operations at HTC including manufacturing, supply chain, sourcing, customer service and technology infrastructure.
Matthew joined Sony Ericsson in early 2007 as Senior Vice President, Transformation and Programmes, having served as an external consultant in leading the redesign and implementation of Sony Ericsson’s global Supply Chain and Sourcing organization and capability. This development initiative helped to earn Sony Ericsson a spot on Advanced Manufacturing Research’s prestigious Global "Top 25 Best Supply Chains" for 2008 and 2009.
Prior to joining Sony Ericsson in 2007, Matthew served as Vice-President, Global Supply Chain for BearingPoint, Inc, a NYSE listed leading global management and technology consultancy. Matthew joined BearingPoint from Andersen in 2002 upon its collapse. During the course of his consultancy career, Matthew specialized in Supply Chain and Operational transformation and restructuring projects, leading the definition of new strategies and linking these to processes, tools, systems and people to enable concepts to become reality. Matthew focused on retail and fast moving consumer goods for several years prior to transitioning to high-tech related operational transformations in early 2000.
Of course we don’t know much about Costello, but as before Sony Ericsson is an odd place to poach executives from, given the company’s reputation for fatally late delivery of smartphones. Hopefully Mr Costello will help HTC perform better than his last company.
Via Digitimes.com, further information from GCSReview.com
Sony Ericsson announcing new Xperia family, possibly including WP7 devices
Sony Ericsson has confirmed an event at the February 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, at which they will announce their new Xperia family.
At least four new Xperia phones are expected to be announced, from recently filed copyrights by Sony Ericsson: Play, Neo, Arc and Duo. The first is likely to be the rumoured PlayStation Phone, and two are confirmed to be Android devices, of which one is likely to be be the Xperia X12 ”Anzu”.
However, Tezawaly from NanoPho.jp speculates that it is possible that other members of the family could be the rumoured Xperia X7 and X7 Mini, detailed here.
There are good reasons to be sceptical: Sony Ericsson have emphasised Android on their devices recently, and have complained the deliberately uniform user experience of Windows Phone 7 limited their ability to differentiate their devices. However, the Mobile World Congress has a deserved reputation for surprising announcements.
Do any of our readers still expect Windows phone 7 handset announcements from Sony Ericsson in the near future? Let us know below.
Via NanoPho.jp
Thanks tezawaly for the tip.
Despite rumours, Sony Ericsson not committed to Windows phone 7 yet
Likely not real.
We have seen recent rumours of some rather fantastical designs for Windows Phone 7 handsets from Sony Ericsson.
The truth however is much less rosy, with the company pretty enamoured with Android, and still very uncertain about Windows phone 7.
While Sony Ericsson France CEO Pierre Perron confirmed the company was still in talks with Microsoft over the use of the OS, he notes that he found the strictures of Windows Phone 7 too restrictive.
“With Windows 7 we run the risk of standardising our smartphones. We would be obliged to compete only on design on price, which we want to avoid”, he told Les Echos.
Sony Ericsson, who famously released an Android 1.6 device well after Android 2.1 has been on the market would likely be one the main companies to benefit from some design discipline, but it is likely even in the more freer Android space the company will soon be punished for its lackadaisical approach to the software on their smartphones.
Via Telecompaper.com
Sony Ericsson’s 2011 Windows Phone 7 line-up, or a fanboy dream?
Two supposed slides depicting Sony Ericsson’s supposed 2011 Windows phone 7 line-up has leaked out via YouTube, and the two handsets shown appear pretty tasty.
The first, the Xperia X7, features a 4.3 inch WVGA screen, new dual core 1.2 ghz Qualcomm MSM8260 processor, 8.1 megapixel camera and HDMI out with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound.
The next is the Xperia X7 Mini, with a 3.5 inch WVGA screen, older generation Qualcomm QSD8250 1 Ghz processor, 10.1 Megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom and Xenon flash and comes with noise cancellation earphones.
Both devices depicted appear to be only basic outlines rather than photos, and knowing the Sony Ericsson fan base, who are famous for their fantastical but unrealistic renderings, I suspect we are mostly looking at fantasy rather than reality.
Do our readers think these two handsets will ever seen the light of day? Let us know below.
See some screenshots after the break.
Sony Ericsson CEO promises Windows Phone 7 handsets, but not until next year
Sony Ericsson Chief Executive Officer Bert Nordberg told investors in a conference call they will be looking to Windows Phone 7 to diversify their offerings.
The company, which aims to be the largest supplier of Android handsets (but who is still quite far off that goal) has announced their decision to drop support for Symbian handsets some weeks ago, apparently because the “ecosystem” isn’t as good as Android’s.
That would however leave the company completely dependent on Google’s largesse, and while the company promises to not “be evil” this is never a good position.
Nordberg however told Dow Jones Newswires that Sony Ericsson has no plans to launch any phones running on Windows Phone 7 before Christmas. The company didn’t reveal plans to launch any other devices ahead of the peak end-year period either.
Analysts however consider this a mistake.
“They will need a successor to the X10, which I expect to be announced this quarter, and they also need to launch on Windows Phone 7 quite soon,” said Daniel Djurberg, Stockholm-based analyst for Nordea Bank..
“Christmas might be tougher than they want it to be as the new Windows Phone 7 products hit the market and add to the Android competition,” added Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner Inc.’s U.K. unit.
Sony Ericsson is famous for announcing handsets and then delaying availability until the market has seemingly lost interest in their offerings. By failing to be part of the initial assault of Windows Phone 7 handsets on the market the company may be missing out on free marketing associated with the Microsoft push, and may find itself competing with a first generation product when other OEM’s have already moved on to the second generation.
Earlier today parent company Ericsson’s share price was down 1.6% at SEK71.00 on the news.
Read more at Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal here.
Messenger confirmed for Windows Phone 7, other great Windows phone 7 titbits (Update: Now with Messenger screenshot!)
Michael Gillett from the blog My Microsoft Life has had a short hands-on with Windows Phone 7 at a Microsoft event in UK and came back with quite a bit of info.
From Oded Ran, Microsoft UK’s head of marketing for Windows Phone 7, he was able to confirm that Sony Ericsson was in fact working on at least one Windows Phone 7 handset.
He was also shown a new MSN app for Windows Phone 7, which brought content from the web portal to the handset, including celebrity news pushed the the Live tile.
He was also able to confirm that there will be a Windows Live Messenger app, which is great news, as it is the one missing piece so far of the Windows Live puzzle. Hopefully it will also support video calling to Xbox Kinect. Apparently there will be Messenger apps from partners also, although its not clear what this means.
Other titbits of note was that there were many other apps still to be revealed by headline developers, and that the developer tools have been downloaded 380,000 times.
Update: Mobiletechworld has stumbled across apparently a 3rd party developer of the official Messenger app, Bewise.
Read much more at My Microsoft Life here.
Edit: Michael has let us know in the comments section that Oded now claims he has not confirmed Sony Ericsson is making a device. We however continue to have our suspicions ;)
“Big surprise coming from Sony Ericsson in next few months”
Now that Sony Ericsson is officially back in the Windows phone 7 fold we are happy to report again on rumours of their upcoming devices.
In this video taken CEO Bert Nordberg told a reporter that “a big surprise” from the company is coming “in the next few months”. Of course most reporting are expecting the mythical Android PSP phone, but now that we know Sony Ericsson still has Windows Phone 7 on their roadmap, would it not be amusing if the company delivers an Xbox Live phone first?
Via allaboutphones.nl.
Sony Ericsson :“Windows Phone 7 remains on our roadmap”
We have heard a lot about Windows Phone 7 losing OEM partners, with Sony Ericsson often being sites as one of the companies initially said to be delivering WP7 handsets but who have now been lost to Android.
It appears no-one asked Sony Ericsson however.
Sony Ericsson’s new Chief Technology Officer, Jan Uddenfeldt, recently told Swedish NyTeknik that the company is not done with Windows Phone 7.
“Android is definitely our focus, but we have not given up on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, although it had a bit slow to take off. But Windows 7 Phone is on the roadmap. However, we have at present no plans for new products with Symbian, "said Uddenfeldt.
Jan Uddenfeldt is Sony Ericsson’s new CTO, tasked with penetrating the US market, and it appears the company will be relying on Android and Windows Phone 7 to achieve this.
The announcement is another blow for Symbian, and with rumours of Toshiba’s return to Windows Phone 7 a boost for Microsoft’s still unreleased OS.
Via Infosyncword.com
Scary: HTC poaches Sony Ericsson executives to streamline product development
HTC has announced the acquisition of two Sony Ericsson executives aimed at keeping the company competitive in the rapidly evolving and tumultuous smartphone world.
“As the smartphone industry expands at this lightning pace, it is essential for HTC to grow its management capabilities from within while also adding outside expertise,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “Today’s announcement is not just a signal of our current growth and progress, but of our vision for bringing unique smartphones to people all over the world.”
Kouji Kodera, previously head of products for Sony Ericsson, will be HTC’s new Chief Product Officer and will be responsible for HTC’s global product portfolio planning and management.
Ron Louks, HTC’s new Chief Strategy Office, previously the chief technology officer at Sony Ericsson, will be responsible driving new strategic initiatives, technology incubation and will work closely with HTC’s engineering and operation departments.
Now I am sure many of our readers agree Sony Ericsson has not exactly been a role model for creating innovative smartphones and delivering them on time in recent years. One can only hope that their previous head of products and chief technology officer was managed to deliver Sony Ericsson’s smartphones despite the company’s problems, rather than being let go for causing them.
Read the full press release here.
via Allaboutphones.nl and Totaltele.com
Sony Ericsson Julie – Windows Phone 7 with a 4 inch screen rumoured
As we get closer to Q4 2010 our readers can expect to see plenty of new Windows Phone 7 devices crawling from the woodwork.
One such device is the Sony Ericsson Julie, a Windows Phone 7 device rumoured on the Sony Ericsson forum IT168.
The device is said to feature a 4 inch screen like the SE X10, a welcome sliding QWERTY keyboard, multi-touch of course, and a 1 Ghz processor, standard for the Windows Phone 7 platform.
Lasomero, the leaker, commented on the fact that the handset will feature Xbox integration, which is notable for the PS3-pushing Sony, but of course, like the 1 Ghz processor and multi-touch, this is standard for the platform.
Lasomero is confident the handset will be released before the end of the year, likely joined by a flotilla of other devices.
Via Techie-buzz.com
Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Updated to 6.5.3
Sony Ericsson was said to have abandoned its Windows mobile fans for the new X10 lovers, but not just yet. Today they released a new 6.5.3 ROM that brings the phone with many new features and updates.
This MR1 firmware update adds video calling,FM Radio access and a faster, and more improved GPS system. There is not much available in the form as for a change log, but I am sure anyone would be happy flashing to the newest versions of Windows Mobile.
This update is a little late. If you remember from our earlier post mentioned this device was suppose to receive the update in march, so that makes them 2 days late. That two days is pretty good for SE, but for those that own the X2. comment below and tell us if you will flash and what is your experience with it.
Source:Pocketnow
[poll id="20"]
Xperiancers shuts down, with it the X2 support promises?
Sony Ericsson is shutting down its Xperiancers blog. Citing the increased importance of its Xperia brand as embodies in its X10 series, the company has now decided to move the content over to its product blog.
With the heavy emphasis on the Xperia X10 one wonders if the blog’s promises to support the Xperia X2 will also similarly vanish. An update to the little known Windows Mobile 6.5.2 has been promised in February this year to arrive in March, leaving SE with only 1.5 days to make good on it, which seems rather unlikely. In that context a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 upgrade in May, also promised by Sony Ericsson on the Xperiancers blog, seems even less so.
Hopefully the company will still make good on its promises, and not repeat its X1 mistake, which it itself acknowledged “attracted some criticism”.
Thanks Mitch for the tip.
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