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May 31, 2009

Sony Ericsson says it will soon offer three new mobile handsets and it unveiled details of new products to come that are designed to help boost phone sales in a declining market.

For example, Sony's newest model to be introduced, the Satio, is a renamed version of the Idou phone that the company originally announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The Satio has a 12-megapixel camera, free access to Hollywood movies and a touch-screen keypad, while the Yari is hands-free gaming focused, and the Aino concentrates on music and videos.

The Satio will be joined by two other new handsets, the Aino and the Yari, as part of the company's strategy to beef up its line of products that merge communication and entertainment together.

Steve Walker, v.p. of marketing at Sony Ericsson Mobile says "this is the 'new' Sony Ericsson you see today. It's taking all the things we have become and taking a big step beyond as well."

Since Q1 2009, global mobile handset sales have dropped about 8.5 percent, according to recent numbers from Gartner. Mid-market phones — traditionally Sony Ericsson's patch — suffered the steepest overall decline.

In contrast, demand for so-called smartphones such as the iPhone, RIM's Blackberry and Nokia's 5800 is growing steadily, with sales forecast to increase about 27.2 percent in 2009.

Sony's new Satio is a smartphone as well.

Sony Ericsson posted a Euro 293 million loss in the first quarter as demand for its handsets fell by 35.1 percent, which Sony attributed to the global financial meltdown since last Fall.

Sony and LM Ericsson's joint venture said it was aiming to return to profitability "as quickly as possible," but also announced an additional 2,000 job cuts to help reduce costs even more. Those job cuts add to already 2,000 other employees that were laid off.

Sony's new Satia mobile handset will provide Web albums with messages, a touch-based media menu, as well as pre-loaded Facebook and YouTube applications.

However, the Yari handset is heavily "games-focused" and is aimed at users' gestures in a similar way to Nintendo's Wii. The phone will include a 5-megapixel camera and dedicated gaming keys.

Sony Ericsson, the world's fourth-largest maker of mobile phones, has been struggling amid a wider downturn in mobile phone sales.

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Source: Sony Ericsson.