Sony buys Ericsson out of mobile phone venture

Sony has agreed to buy Ericsson's half of the Sony Ericsson smartphone-making joint venture, the two companies announced on Thursday.

Sony will pay Ericsson about $1.5 billion for its stake in the company, which makes a wide range of smartphones with some Google Android handsets among its offering.

The move will make Sony Ericsson a "wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony and integrated into Sony's broad platform of network-connected consumer electronics products," the companies said in a statement on the deal, which has been rumored for months.

Sony's connected products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablets, TVs, digital cameras, Blu-ray players and PlayStation gaming consoles, as well as online services such as the PlayStation Network or Sony Online Entertainment. The tech giant also owns the Sony Pictures film studio and record labels as well.

As a part of the deal, Sony and Ericsson will also cross-license and share in ownership of "five essential patent families "relating to wireless handset technology."

The patent segment of this deal reflects the growing concern handset makers have for growing their respective patent portfolios.

"With a vibrant smartphone business and by gaining access to important strategic IP, notably a broad cross-license agreement, our four-screen strategy is in place," said Howard Stringer, Sony's chairman, chief executive and president in a statement. "We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment."

Sony Ericsson was launched on Oct. 1, 2001, and at that time combined "the unprofitable handset operations from Ericsson and Sony," the two companies said. "Following a successful turnaround the company has become a market leader in the development of feature phones by integrating Sony's strong consumer products knowledge and Ericsson's telecommunications technology leadership. The Walkman phone and Cyber-shot phone are well-known examples."

But feature phones (or just regular cellphones that can do things such as store and play music, shoot photos and video but not run full-out mobile apps) are less desired nowadays than smartphones and with connectivity and online services becoming increasingly important, Sony sees an opportunity in taking over the company fully.

"Ten years ago when we formed the joint venture ... it was a perfect match to drive the development of feature phones," said Hans Vestberg, chief executive and president of Ericsson. "Today we take an equally logical step as Sony acquires our stake in Sony Ericsson and makes it a part of its broad range of consumer devices. We will now enhance our focus on enabling connectivity for all devices, using our R&D and industry leading patent portfolio to realize a truly connected world."

The boards of both companies have approved the buyout deal, which is subject to regulatory approval. Sony and Ericsson said they expect the deal to close sometime in January.

Xperia Ray and Xperia Active announced

Besides the txt, Sony Ericsson Announced two Android powered Xperia smartphones, the Ray and the Active.

The Sony Ericsson Ray sports a scratch resistant 3.3 inch screen with reality display. It runs android 2.3 powered by a  1Ghz processor. Its just 9.4mm thick, which does remind one of the Arc. It will also have a 8 megapixel camera with an Exmor sensor, Timescape UI and is rumoured to be built with premium materials such as Aluminium. It weighs just 100 grams and will be available in four colors, black, gold, white and pink.

The Xperia Active is designed for people with an active lifestyle. Remember the Motorola Defy? Well, its on similar lines, so we this one's water (under 1m of water for up to 30 minutes)and dust resistant too.It comes with a 3 inch scratch resistant display,(320x480 pixels) It also  features ANT+, wet finger tracking (accurately track your wet fingers),GPS, barometer, pedometer, pulse meter, a 5 megapixel camera, HD video recording (720p) and runs on Android 2.3 with a 1GHz processor.
The handset comes with a wrist strap, an arm case, and replaceable back covers to change the phone's back color to white. Otherwise the Xperia active will come in orange or white with a black back cover.

The Xperia ray and Xperia active will be available in Q3 2011 for selected markets, though Sony Ericsson has disclosed that the Xperia ray will definitely be available in Japan.

Sony Ericsson announce the Txt

At the CommunicAsia Singapore, Sony Ericsson announced three new devices, first of which is the Txt.

The Sony Ericsson txt is a QWERTY candybar feature phone which is targeting the youth. So if you're a heave texter and don't want a smartphone, it could be an ideal choice. The device has a 2.6-inch screen, QWERTY keyboard and a SMS shortcut key. Like the txt pro, the txt has a "friends" app that lets you see social media updates from Facebook and Twitter for up to five friends.

The handset will come in four shades, white, black, pink and blue. The txt will be available in selected markets in Q4 2011.

Xperia mini and mini pro announced

It was about time now, wasn't it? Sony Ericsson finally unveiled the successors to its minis.
The Xperia mini and the Xperia mini pro, touted as the smallest HD smartphones in the world. The two Mini devices feature Sony’s Mobile BRAVIA display engine and Sony Ericsson’s custom four-corner Android UI with Timescape.

Both the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro get their power kick from 512MB RAM and 1GHz Snapdragon processors (QSD8255 for the Xperia mini and the MSM8255 for the Xperia mini pro). They also share the same 3-inch TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 480x320 pixels.
The two Minis brag the same 5 megapixel snapper with LED flash at the back. Plus, their cameras are capable of shooting 720p HD video.

In addition to these decent specifications, the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini measures at 88 x 52 x 16mm and weighs in at just 99 grams. The phone also comes with 320MB of internal storage expandable up to 32GB with a microSD card.

What makes the Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro different is the sliding QWERTY keyboard as well as a scratch resistant mineral glass screen. As a result it weighs 136 grams and packs 400MB of internal memory. But don’t worry, microSD card support is still present.

Both phones come in variety of colors, Black, White and Pink. The Xperia Mini has a special Blue color version, while the Mini Pro has a Turquoise one. The Xperia mini and mini pro share the same 1200mAh battery. The devices are expected to hit the market in August this year

W8 Walkman Android phone announced

Sony Ericsson has just announced its first phone from the Walkman series to run Android. Just like its brother, the X8, the Sony Ericsson W8 sports a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a 3.2MP camera. Under the hood there's a 600MHz single-core processor ticking, with 168MB of RAM.
The W8 will run Android 2.1, which is a bit unfortunate, as most Droids on the market are now running Froyo or even Gingerbread. Nevertheless, this is the first Walkman phone to run the Google mobile OS, which will be covered by the Timescape UI. It will be bundled with the MH 410.

It will be available in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam starting from Q2 2011 in a choice of colors - Azure Blue, Metallic Red, and Iconic Orange

Xperia Play and Arc hit India

Officially launched in some European and Asian markets on April 1, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (the world’s first PlayStation certified smartphone) is now available in India too.

Indian customers can buy the Xperia Play for Rs 29,995/-

Another device that's available now is the Xperia Arc. You can make it yours for Rs 26995/-

As far as the Neo is concerned, you'll have to wait for the end of the month

Xperia Play outed, mad rush begins

Today, XPERIA Play hit the world in many markets - UK, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. With a number of optimized games and Playstation 1 games included in the Android Market and Playstation Pocket to help the Play to a great start.
The amount of games, available for the XPERIA Play is more than 60, and they will all be downloadable in the first week. Playstation 2 games will be arriving shortly.

Xperia Play Multiplayer gaming, 50 titles at launch

Xperia Play combines a PlayStation-quality gaming experience with the very latest Android smartphone technology.It is the world's first Playstation certified smartphone and Sony Ericsson has finally cleared the air about the game titles and the entire support system that its going to make available.

Sony Ericsson promises a library of 50 additional titles available at launch from 20 publishing partners. Some games ported from existing smartphone platforms (like Reckless Racing) will have bonus content on Xperia Play, too. Local area multiplayer gaming is a go, as you'll be able to host a WiFi hotspot on one device and join the game with another.

XPERIA PLAY: Pure, unadulterated gaming

After years of waiting, here's something, the one device that'll make any gaming aficionado go weak in the knees, the Xperia Play is out folks!

As we've heard for ages now, it'll run Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with Qualcomm Adreno 205 graphics and will display how fluid gaming can be on a sizable 4-inch, 854 x 480 multi-touch screen, the combination of which Sony says will provide 60 frames per second playback and manage up to 5 hours, 35 minutes of battery life in a single game session with the slide-out PlayStation Certified controller.

Gaming credentials aside, you're looking at either a quad-band GSM or CDMA and EV-DO smartphone with a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, LED flash, stereo speakers, Bluetooth and WiFi functionality baked in, as well as Sony Ericsson's Timescape UI.

The phone comes preloaded with a "legendary" PSone game,not disclosed yet, as well as a bevy of popular Android games including Asphalt 6, The Sims 3 and Tetris.

It's launching in March, and will be available on Verizon (a US exclusive) in "early spring,"

Official Press Release

Next up - Xperia Pro

Sony Ericsson has just announced the second biggie - Xperia Pro - a slider device with a full QWERTY keyboard. The device sports a 3.7-inch, 854 x 480 display (which uses uses the company's Bravia graphics engine technology), runs atop a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, and is sporting SE's customized build of Gingerbread (Android 2.3). The phone has an 8 megapixel camera (Exmor sensor of course), HD recording with LED flash, 2 megapixel front facing camera, and will be available in silver, red, and black.

Should be out by april. Another good news though, Arc will be out in March :)

Official Press Release

Say hello to Xperia Neo!

Greetings everyone!
So no 3D, no dual-core, no Pico projector, yet.

Sony Ericsson decided not to jump the dual core bandwagon just for the heck of it ( The current Android versions aren't optimized for it), but chose to storm the front in an albeit different way.

So first up, put your hands together for the Xperia Neo.

It is pretty similar to the Arc, even powered by the same single-core 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor as the Arc and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The device is able to plug into your HDTV via HDMI and can be controlled with a standard remote. The 3.7-inch screen on the device sports a healthy resolution of 854 x 480 and uses Sony's Bravia graphics engine. The phone has a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, an 8 megapixel camera- an Exmor R unit,capable of HD video recording with LED flash (and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera), and will be available in an array of colors (silver, red, and blue).

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA Neo measures 116x57x13mm and weighs 126 grams. An 8GB microSD card will be in the box.

Official Press Release

Sony PlayStation Suite For Android Announced

Sorry for not covering a whole lot of the latest stuff, been keepin a bit busy. But I'm back, so lets get back to business shall we?

Sony Computer Entertainment announced it will be launching PlayStation Suite, which will make PlayStation content available on Android handsets and tablets.
"The world of portable [gaming] has undergone a huge change since the release of the PSP," said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. "When we released PSP, cell phone providers were unable to deliver PlayStation-quality content. After six years, these multi-function handheld devices are ready for the PlayStation-like experience."

According to Sony, the PlayStation Suite is "hardware neutral" and will work across many Android devices.
Sony showed off some of the titles that will be available "within the next calendar year," including Syphon Filter, Cool Boarders 2, MediEvil, Rally Cars, and Wild Arms. But it is not simply a PSX emulator, Sony said it is a new development framework that allows for the development of all new content.

Along with the suite, Sony is preparing to launch its own PlayStation Store for Android devices similar to the ones available on the PS3 and PSP, where games, videos, and interactive content are available for download.

This announcement finally gives the Android platform exclusive gaming support that neither iOS nor Windows Phone 7 can offer. Though gaming on Android has improved considerably since the operating system launched in 2008, the platform has had to fend off a reputation for not being a quality outlet for games.

SE announces first 16.2 megapixel device

Sony Ericsson has just announced the world's first 16.2 megapixel phone. but there's a hitch, it's for the Japanese market only.

The S006 Cyber-shot phone is based on the Exmor R sensor by Sony. Bu you'll have to contend with a LED flash as there's no Xenon flash.

Other specs include a 3.3-inch high resolution (480 x 854 pixels) display with support for 16.7 million colours. It can run BREW applications. It supports Bluetooth and WiFi, as well as FM radio.

Sony Ericsson records Q3 profit on product launches

The strong performance of Sony Ericsson's smartphones has led them to a third consecutive quarter of profits. Income was up from the previous quarter and restructuring charges were significantly lower too.

Here are the numbers: Sony Ericsson shipped 10.4 million units (down from 11 million the previous quarter) and the sales totaled 1,603 million euro (1,757 million euro for Q2). Despite that, the gross margin went up 2% quarter-on-quarter and almost doubled compared to last year's third quarter.

Smartphones, especially the XPERIA lineup, has been the primary focus for Sony Ericsson and it's paying off - smartphones now account for over 50% of total sales. Average selling price fell a little since the last quarter and is now at 154 euro (down from 160 euro).

The end result of all these numbers is a net income of 49 million euro - a huge improvement over the 12 million for the previous quarter. And last year's third quarter marked a loss of 164 million euro, so Sony Ericsson is clearly on an upwards trajectory.

Sony Ericsson estimates that they have a 4% market share (in number of units) - basically they've been keeping the same level since the beginning of 2010.

Official Press release

Sony Ericsson announced China only 'A8i'

In collaboration with China Mobile, SE have developed a new phone, called the A8i. The phone is specifically made for the Chinese market, and incorporates China Mobile's own entertainment download service (like a Chinese PlayNow).
It runs on OMS 2.0, which is China Mobiles own custom made Android system, adapted to support the Chinese TD-SCDMA 3g network, and mobile television.
And now to the exciting part – the specs of the new phone! :
A quick sum-up:

• 3,5″ touch-screen
• 854×480 pixels
• 262,144 colour TFT
• 5 megapixel camera
• 4x digital zoom
• Auto focus
• Microsoft Exchange Active-Sync
• 3,5 mm audio-jack
• FM-radio
• WLAN
• aGPS
• Bluetooth
• MicroUSB (charging and data-sync)
• microSD-support (up to 32 gb)

X10 mini pro hits the shelves

The X10 mini pro is now available. The device runs on Android 1.6 OS, 2.55″ 240×320 pixels (QVGA) 16,777,216 colour touchscreen display, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, 600 MHz processor, Bluetooth, 3.5 mm audio jack, Micro USB connector, aGPS, Wi-Fi and full slide out keyboard.

Go grab yours now!

Yendo, Cedar and Xperia X8 announced

The Yendo is a standard feature phone with a non-smartphone operating system, but it seems that Sony Ericsson has finally optimized the user interface for finger usage. It's the much awaited touchscreen walkman device. 

There’s a 2.6 inch capacitive touch display with 240 x 320 pixels resolution. Being a Walkman phone, there’s naturally a 3.5 millimetre audio jack connector. Other features include a micro USB connector, social networking apps preloaded and ten different colours at launch.

Sony Ericsson expanded their eco-friendly Greenheart family with “Cedar”, a candybar feature phone. Cedar features built-in widgets for Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for those of us who would like to be connected on the move. Like all recent Sony Ericsson phones, the Cedar supports memory expansion via MicroSD and a microUSB port. It also sports a 3.5 mm audio jack and Exchange Activesync.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X8, previously known as “Shakira”, was announced today. It sports a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen, 16.7 million color display that sports a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. A 3.2 megapixel camera,  FM radio , Wi-Fi and GPS are onboard too. And the price? Just 200 Euros!!

Vivaz Pro now shipping!

All those who've been waiting for the qwerty version of the HD video star - the Vivaz, need to wait no more. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro is now shipping, and in large volumes too, according to the nice folks at the Product Blog.

The Vivaz Pro is almost identical specs and design-wise to the original Sony Ericsson Vivaz except that it sports a QWERTY keyboard and a 5 megapixel camera instead of the 8mp snapper on the Vivaz. The 720p HD video recording is still there though.

SE launches an Idea Sharing Community: SE-dot

Sony Ericsson just launched a new initiative called SE-dot. SE-dot is a new community where SE invites users to share ideas and wishes and works towards bringing them to life. They are asking just a simple question: What do you want your phone to do?

Users are invited to give their ideas and wishes and the developers are invited to:

• take part in the discussion – find and expand ideas
• develop applications based on ideas initiated by users
• reply to users where existing apps provide the requested solution
• join Developer World and create apps for our phones
• submit and sell apps via SE's PlayNow store to make them easily available to Sony Ericsson’s consumers

Via: se-blog

Xperia X10 becomes DoCoMo's best selling smartphone

An analyst note from Barclay’s justified their upgrade of Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo’s stock by impressive performance of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

DoCoMo’s new smart phone, Sony Ericsson Xperia, has sold about 120,000 units within its first three weeks on sale; Tsusaka’s data shows that the initial 100,000 unit shipment to distributors sold out in 10 says, but another 50,000 units delivered in mid-April, and a third set of 30,000 units is apparently scheduled for late April.
Stores which open on weekdays are mostly sold out. Sales of over 100,000 units make a positive contribution to the company’s net increase in subscribers, so it looks very likely NTT DoCoMo will again have a top share of net add in April.

Xperia sales versus DoCoMo’s previous smart phone:
Xperia 120,000 in 20 days
HTC Android 80,000 in 10 months
Blackberry Bold 60,000 in 14 months
Toshiba Windows Mobile 60,000 in 10 months”