Sony Mobile Evangelist

Sony Ericsson has hit out at press reports saying it would drop its Walkman and Cybershot handset brands in favour of the “entertainment unlimited” concept headed up by the ‘Idou’, which features a 12MP camera.

It denied that it would discontinue the popular ranges after a report titled “Sony Ericsson axes Walkman mobiles” appeared on Marketing Magazine’s website this week.

It said, however, that future Walkman and Cybershot devices would be aimed at prepay users, as “entertainment unlimited” would become the manufacturer’s flagship handsets.

A Sony Ericsson spokesperson confirmed: “We do not plan to drop Walkman and Cybershot branded devices from our portfolio in the UK.

“At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February we announced our intention to combine the best of experiences from Walkman and Cybershot into more entertainment focused handsets. The first of these is a handset announced as Idou.

“By taking the very best elements of our Walkman and Cybershot devices we will deliver, new 'high' end devices into the market. This will mean that both Cybershot and Walkman branded devices will become more of a prepay proposition within the UK market. This is a very important part of the market for us to address and we are very confident Walkman and Cybershot devices will have strong appeal to UK consumers in the prepay segment.”