Two weeks ago we published an open letter to Sony Ericsson highlighting some of the problems we believe the company faces and calling on them to take action to address those problems. We have been running polls to gauge our users’ reaction to the letter and so far the response is overwhelmingly in agreement with the letter. Given that we’ve looked at what’s holding the company back let’s now take a look at what Sony Ericsson are doing to change and move forwards, and also ask whether it is enough to actually bring lasting change.
Perhaps the most apparent change has been the introduction of the ‘Entertainment Unlimited’ brand. This is a new brand of Sony Ericsson hardware that some see as combining the old Cybershot and Walkman brands. Whilst that’s true Entertainment Unlimited (EU) is actually quite a bit more, or at least it is trying to be. The idea isn’t just to release all-in-one handsets you see, it’s to completely re-focus the company as a whole; instead of being just another manufacturer Sony Ericsson wants to be an ‘entertainment company’. There’s that word again: entertainment.
What’s so important about entertainment then? Well quite a lot according to Sony Ericsson. Consumers are increasingly doing more with their handsets, whether it’s watching films, playing games, or accessing the web. To put it simply, Sony Ericsson wants a piece of that action. Now you might be thinking ‘haven’t people been doing those things for years?’. Well yes, and no. Take games, for instance, they’ve been on handsets for years, but it’s only in the last couple of years that they’ve grown significantly beyond relatively simple Java games and reached a mass audience that isn’t largely confined to children and teenagers. In other words mobiles are becoming, and in some cases have become, true games platforms in their own right. The same can be said for films as memory sizes have increased and screen resolutions have gotten better.
As slow as Sony Ericsson seems to be at times in catching on to trends they do recognise that consumers expect ever more from their devices and that we are living in an ever more connected world. Someone with a good cameraphone wants a good music player too, and why should they have to carry around a separate device because the manufacturer has decided to skimp on the media features in their phone in favour of the camera? That’s essentially the ethos behind EU, an all-in-one media device that not only does a good job of playing that media, whether it be a game, a film or a song, but also does a good job of sharing that content and in allowing the user to create content himself.
We can see that ethos played out through some of the features that have been built into Aino, Satio and Yari. For example, Yari features in-call music, which allows the user to play a song whilst in a call so the person on the other end can hear it. Aino of course allows the user to connect with his PS3 and access content. Satio’s main selling point is its camera, but it also acts as a pretty good media player to boot and has enough connectivity options to make sharing it pretty easy.
The handsets are only one part of it though because SE are also trying hard to tie in their PlayNow service, which has seen a huge expansion since its beginnings as a portal for Java games, wallpapers and ringtones. It now offers millions of songs for download as well as films. Sony Ericsson have also released an updated version of their handset sync software, which basically acts as their own version of iTunes. All in all it’s an attempt at creating their own content cycle.
It’s too early to say whether this will be successful or not, however, Sony Ericsson needs to expand on this vision a lot more and tie it all together much tighter if it’s going to run in the long-term. Consumers increasingly expect a lot more from a handset than what’s in the box and what’s pre-loaded on the phone. They want access to content and they want to tie that in with the rest of their digital lives. In that respect these are good first steps we’re seeing, but they’re still fragmented and they’re still small steps. As we’ve said previously, we need to see some risk taking and some bold moves.
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