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HelpIt would be impossible for me to do a comprehensive, technically detailed write-up of how Sony Ericsson turned the million Euro incomes to expenses, and I’m sure it’d be rather uninteresting for you as well. That’s why I’m not going to do that nor try to do it. I will, however, try to sum up what went wrong and how. As you’d expect, this rant will reflect nothing but my personal opinions and thoughts on Sony Ericsson’s past and current decisions, as well as what seems to be Sony Ericsson’s future plans. Also want you to know that I’m uncertain whether or not this piece is finished. I can’t make up my mind on whether I should add more to make it more clear, or leave it as it is, so apologies in advance if parts don’t make any sense to you.
The copy/paste-strategy
Sony Ericsson changed its product strategy a few years ago. The company saw huge advantages of making use of the same hardware and software platforms with only few minor changes. Initially, the strategy worked out very well – probably because it was still of limited use.
Sony Ericsson announced the rather amazing K750 back in very early March 2005. The K750 is one of Sony Ericsson’s most innovative phones ever, period. It was such an immense update from K700, and the camera – which was the most interesting feature about it – was built upon the camera of the S700, and greatly enhanced. I doubt it came as a surprise for K750 users when it was announced the best camera phone of the year. The K750 wasn’t one to miss, and sales surpassed all expectations.
At the same day the K750 was announced, Sony Ericsson also announced another very similar phone, which featured the same stunning camera features, while also bringing the Sony Walkman brand into the mobile phone market. The W800 was born.
This is where Sony Ericsson’s now heavily used segmentation has its roots, and it wasn’t long until another Sony Ericsson trend arose. About nine months after the announcement of the W800, Sony Ericsson announced the W810 – a slightly updated W800 with a few hardware upgrades, such as adding quad-band GSM and EDGE functionality rather than tri-band only, and a slightly updated user interface, not to mention the arguably nicer design. And that was about it… Even though not much had changed compared to W800, the W810 sold very well, and Sony Ericsson managed to keep up the hype about their products, for now at least.
A month after the announcement of W810, Sony Ericsson announced the M600. And just about a week after that, the W950 was announced. Both phones were built on the exact same platform with the exact same operating system, with only minor differences to each. The M600 featured a full keyboard, whilst the W950 featured a rather regular keypad. It was obvious that Sony Ericsson had just taken its product segmentation to the next level with the M600 being a business phone, and the W950 being a music phone, although they were 99 percent the same. Have a look at the more recent P1 and W960 smart phones – the story continued.
Later that month, the K800 was announced. This was the successor of K750, and to make it even more obvious that this phone was “a camera”, Sony Ericsson hooked up with its Japanese parent company and branded it the very first Cyber-shot phone. Back then, Sony Ericsson said that only the best digital cameras would wear the Cyber-shot brand, and at the same time promised that the quality of the photos would be beyond the usual. Do you think they’d still be proud to say that about the C902 and K850 today? Personally, I doubt it when it comes to these two in particular as they’re short on quality compared to other market offerings, but I wouldn’t doubt for a second, that they’ll be prouder than ever to say it about the C905.
So, the K800 brought along some hardware upgrades and an entirely new software platform. It took a whole year for Sony Ericsson to announce its newest Cyber-shot flagship, which – in most cases – was no different than the K800. Once again, Sony Ericsson had added the quad-band GSM and EDGE functionality, slightly updated the software, and changed the design to a more appealing one.
By now, Sony Ericsson was slowly starting to fall behind, and had now made it pretty clear to most that they weren’t going to change this “hardware/software swap” trend – and well, they didn’t. As far as I can tell, the portfolio included more than forty of these phones from about 2005 to now. These are:
C902, D750, G502, K310, K320, K530, K550, K630, K750, K770, K790, K800, K810, M600, P1, S302, S500, T250, T270, T280, T650, T700, V640, W300, W302, W550, W580, W600, W610, W660, W700, W710, W800, W810, W890, W902, W950, W960, Z530, Z555, Z710, Z750, Z770, and Z780.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve missed some, or if some of you disagree with me, but fact is that the above mentioned phones are each very similar to at least one or more of the other mentioned phones.
Cutting down on the high-end products
Because of Sony Ericsson’s almost endless line of similar phones, many high-end consumers have left the company for others. Although it is not the only reason for Sony Ericsson’s decreasing phone ASP (average selling price), this has without doubt been one of them.
Sony Ericsson used to be a manufacturer delivering very high-end offerings with basically no comprises on features or size. Lately they haven’t been up for the challenge of keeping up with the game, and were late at incorporating newer, more advanced features into their phone portfolio. Here we’re talking about features such as GPS and WLAN. Sony Ericsson’s portfolio is still very limited when it comes to phones with these features, and while most of the new smart phones feature WLAN connectivity, none of them include a built-in GPS unit. If we’re going to take a look at the feature phones, it’s rather clear that only a few feature a built-in GPS unit, and only one – for now – does also feature built-in WLAN.
And when it comes to features, how many of Sony Ericsson’s latest phones would you say have brought anything new to the table? Not a whole lot of them, I guess, and the stuff that was brought to the table is nowhere near being as innovative as it had been just a few years ago. Take the recently announced T700 as an example – it brings absolutely nothing new to the market, and W890, which seems like the better and cheaper choice, is already on the market and has been for some time. The only thing new about the T700 is its design, and that’s what Sony Ericsson wants people to buy it for. In my opinion, that’s no way to run a company – to create products and hope that they’re bought based on their looks rather than functionality and features. Have a look on over at Motorola in USA, and you’ll know what I mean.
Will this change? Yes, and as a matter of fact it is currently changing, and started changing when Miles Flint gave his chair to the current President, Hideki Komiyama. Sure, it’s taken almost a year now, but I don’t think it’ll be that much longer now. Hideki has made it clear that the situation wouldn’t be much changed in Q3, but that they’re going all in on the fourth quarter of the year, and I must admit that they’ve got a strong line-up for the mass market, while still not forgetting all about the business segment.
Branding – just for the sake of it?
Sony Ericsson has currently got two Sony brands to go on segmented Sony Ericsson products; the Cyber-shot brand, and the Walkman brand. The use of the brands is one of the things Hideki Komiyama has to do something about.
At the moment, Sony Ericsson’s portfolio includes a total of nine Cyber-shot branded phones, from the low-end K550 to the high-end C905. Sony Ericsson’s portfolio also includes no less than 26 Walkman branded music phones, again from the low-end ones, such as W200 and W300, to the high-end ones, such as W902, W960 and W980.
Seeing there is such a great difference in these products varying from the very cheap end of the line-up to the more expensive ones, how is it that even the very low-end phones can wear the same brand of quality as the high-end ones? Well, it’s nothing but a marketing gig.
I am personally finding it very hard to believe that the W200 really “deserves” this Walkman quality brand. In my opinion, it was merely because the Walkman range didn’t include any really cheap offerings, so they just smashed on the Walkman brand, and went on hoping no one would notice. The same goes for the Cyber-shot range and many of the phones in it, especially the K550. They can’t seriously think that this phone is going to replace a digital compact camera. If so, they’re barking mad! Once again, this was just to make the range a bit more complete. What’s worse is that the K550’s Walkman copy, the W610, is actually a better camera phone than K550, because of the – in my opinion – horrific post-processing of the Cyber-shot camera software. Believe it or not, the difference is there, and it is evident.
The same thing goes for the Cyber-shot branded K770 and its generic sibling, the T650. Although the difference is less noticeable in this case, mainly because the camera module has been replaced for an excellent Samsung module, it should be clear to most that – up until now – the branding has been done just for the sake of it. By the way, the T650 remains one of Sony Ericsson’s best camera phones in terms of quality – even without the wonderful Cyber-shot brand.
Some will wonder why I’m writing “up until now”. This is mainly because Sony Ericsson recently announced the C905, that can actually replace a low/mid-end digital compact camera, and because most Walkman phones are actually decent music phones, although the majority are still victims of Sony Ericsson’s heavy segmentation, meaning the cameras are just about worthless in most cases.
Discouraging financial results
I don’t know about you, but I loved every single bit of the Q2 financial results, and I even laughed when I read the part about the huge profit drop. The results were indeed very discouraging, and I’m hopeful that they were discouraging to such a degree that it opened Sony Ericsson’s eyes.
The operating income turned negative. I’m most certain this means they’ve manufactured too many phones that simply didn’t sell. I blame a large part of this problem on the amount of similar phones, and Sony Ericsson’s excessive software modifications for each of its two Sony brands, especially when it’s far from up to the level it should be.
One thing I loved about the financial results is that Sony Ericsson claims that the market is proving challenging. I think someone needs a wakeup call, ASAP! It really can’t be that hard to understand that the market doesn’t want three different variants of each phone, where the only difference is the branding and price. In addition to that, it really can’t be that hard to understand that the expenses will triple when manufacturing and marketing three similar phones instead of just one.
Conclusion
So, is it really as bad as it sounds? Well, partially. So far I’ve only mentioned the bad stuff and how it went bad. Sony Ericsson has come up with some fabulous phones recently, including the C905, G700, G900 and X1. These represent the very best Sony Ericsson has to offer, and this golden league will soon welcome a few very much needed additions.
The fact that Sony Ericsson’s sales didn’t go down substantially also means that there are still many people out there that do want to buy Sony Ericsson products. Lately, Sony Ericsson’s strategy just hasn’t been any profitable, mainly because the number of similar phones has been growing a lot.
Another factor that goes to prove that Sony Ericsson knows about their problems is the fact that about 2,000 employees are to be sacked. How can this possibly be a good thing, you ask? Well, Sony Ericsson’s portfolio has been flooded by – let’s just call them copy/paste phones – and lots of them! It’s been reported that Sony Ericsson had expanded its portfolio by about fifteen mobile phones year on year, and I suspect the majority are copy/paste phones. For each phone a massive crew is needed of more than 100 employees. Yes, that’s for each phone, even if they’ve been through the photocopier! That means the majority of the 2,000 employees that are to be sacked could come from the development and marketing of copy/paste phones. Official spokespeople have even said that a great part of the cuts will be in Sweden, which adds up perfectly to the above mentioned theory.
But wait, what about the rest? Well, it’s not exactly unusual for a company with such an immense profit drop to lay off a number of employees, and I guess that’s also the reason in Sony Ericsson’s case.
I’ll leave you with that, and wrap up this rant. It’s not all bad, and things are (slowly) turning, although it’ll definitely take some time. If you’re willing to wait, you should do it. If not – well, you might want to reconsider, and keep in mind that it really isn’t as bad as it looks, although it might sound harsh and feel like the most stupid thing in the world to support Sony Ericsson at times.
The other fact you see financial figure declining also because at this economy situation high end phone or high tech phone is not selling well!!! Damn it why SE fans is too naive to also look at the real world.
SE failed to offer innovative high end product and same time not able to provide good value to money mid to low end product is the problem.
it is not just they failed to offer high end product
SE is really not making a big impact at China and india which Nokia is enjoying using all its 2xxx or 1xxx phone…cheap phone using old tech and still giving good profit…SE can’t offer much on that….their R series and maybe F305 could be the first one to attack the mid segment and hopefully they can provide more Jxxx or K1xx or K2xx series tht suit those market.
Because no matter how…the mass market is going to stop buying high end product unless they made one tht is so great….which I do hope they still got tht skill to make one.
The other fact you see financial figure declining also because at this economy situation high end phone or high tech phone is not selling well!!! Damn it why SE fans is too naive to also look at the real world.
SE failed to offer innovative high end product and same time not able to provide good value to money mid to low end product is the problem.
it is not just they failed to offer high end product
SE is really not making a big impact at China and india which Nokia is enjoying using all its 2xxx or 1xxx phone…cheap phone using old tech and still giving good profit…SE can’t offer much on that….their R series and maybe F305 could be the first one to attack the mid segment and hopefully they can provide more Jxxx or K1xx or K2xx series tht suit those market.
Because no matter how…the mass market is going to stop buying high end product unless they made one tht is so great….which I do hope they still got tht skill to make one.
Great! piece of write there michell. in Nigeria i come from we argue seriously.Nokia fans v SE fans,but they have always got too much advantages over us.there want to make us look inferior. personally i will be the most happiest person if really they going to change.
i also here that UIQ is dead is it true? pls i need info
Great! piece of write there michell. in Nigeria i come from we argue seriously.Nokia fans v SE fans,but they have always got too much advantages over us.there want to make us look inferior. personally i will be the most happiest person if really they going to change.
i also here that UIQ is dead is it true? pls i need info
What all we were waiting for? just close this site and then were done…
What all we were waiting for? just close this site and then were done…
Great article, i hope some of the official SE people actually read this.
My k850 has dropped so much in quality compared to my k750.. Let’s hope X1/C905 can change the tide for SE. (Sort out your FWs!!)
Great article, i hope some of the official SE people actually read this.
My k850 has dropped so much in quality compared to my k750.. Let’s hope X1/C905 can change the tide for SE. (Sort out your FWs!!)
You can hardly say the X1 is going to change anything for SE, it’s a HTC device running on Windows Mobile with Sony Ericsson branding – barely a SE handset.
You can hardly say the X1 is going to change anything for SE, it’s a HTC device running on Windows Mobile with Sony Ericsson branding – barely a SE handset.
It is perfectly normal to make use of other manufacturers, and this is not the first time SE has done this. It is still a Sony Ericsson product, wearing the Sony Ericsson logo, and it will still be marketed by Sony Ericsson as a Sony Ericsson product. I cannot see how this has anything whatsoever to do with HTC, even though they’ve manufactured it.
It is perfectly normal to make use of other manufacturers, and this is not the first time SE has done this. It is still a Sony Ericsson product, wearing the Sony Ericsson logo, and it will still be marketed by Sony Ericsson as a Sony Ericsson product. I cannot see how this has anything whatsoever to do with HTC, even though they’ve manufactured it.
Great read, after my comment on the T700 a few days ago, I felt that someone more distinguished and known in the SE community needed to stand up and write an article outlining the customer disgust at what SE was producing.
Hopefully they will realize their mistake before it’s too late.
Great read, after my comment on the T700 a few days ago, I felt that someone more distinguished and known in the SE community needed to stand up and write an article outlining the customer disgust at what SE was producing.
Hopefully they will realize their mistake before it’s too late.
…And do you honestly think that article such as this would help SE woke up?? And an article such as this that have put a lot of stigma on SE brand would help them stand up and put up a good fight?? Even if SE turn 180 degrees and produces handsets exceeding your expectation…i don’t see people coming around to buy them even if they are loyal to this brand was because of so much stigma that had been thrown at it. yes, it was SE fault but adding salt to the wound doesn’t help either.
…And do you honestly think that article such as this would help SE woke up?? And an article such as this that have put a lot of stigma on SE brand would help them stand up and put up a good fight?? Even if SE turn 180 degrees and produces handsets exceeding your expectation…i don’t see people coming around to buy them even if they are loyal to this brand was because of so much stigma that had been thrown at it. yes, it was SE fault but adding salt to the wound doesn’t help either.
@Michell – That just shows that SE are hardly making any effort in trying to refresh and innovate on that front. The X1 may have the brand on it, but everyone knows it’s nothing but a front. Yes many manufacturers use other model and re-brand them, but to have SE do the same – where are they going with this? It would have been one thing putting their logo on the X1 with their own OS powering it, but it runs on WM, so SE have minimal effort or credit for that matter.
SE needs to start innovating on their front, they tried Nokia’s marketing strategy by mass production on devices and the copy and paste method as you clearly state, but what happened to Nokia and Motorola for that matter when they did the same thing? Profits nose dived. Nokia only manage to recover because they were so huge and could afford to take the financial loss and carry on – and that brought us the N95! Where Motorola (who were the 2nd biggest) couldn’t and in consequence effectivly died. Does SE want to do the same thing? We have big players with innovative and ground breaking products coming into the market, LG and Samsuns know what they have to do, and they have the ideas to back it up. Take for example the top S60 handset right now? No it’s not a Nokia it’s the Innov8 from Samsung.
The game is getting harder and SE could not have done the more to put themselves at a deficit to try and catch up with it. From being the 3rd biggest and potentially having the opportunity to become 2nd (beating Motorola) they have done exactly the opposite!
Personally I don’t see anthing new or exciting coming from SE in the next few years. Nokia has the might, Apple has the sex appeal, LG and Samsung have innovation and a huge Asian market if things go wrong, what has SE got? A bleak future.
@Michell – That just shows that SE are hardly making any effort in trying to refresh and innovate on that front. The X1 may have the brand on it, but everyone knows it’s nothing but a front. Yes many manufacturers use other model and re-brand them, but to have SE do the same – where are they going with this? It would have been one thing putting their logo on the X1 with their own OS powering it, but it runs on WM, so SE have minimal effort or credit for that matter.
SE needs to start innovating on their front, they tried Nokia’s marketing strategy by mass production on devices and the copy and paste method as you clearly state, but what happened to Nokia and Motorola for that matter when they did the same thing? Profits nose dived. Nokia only manage to recover because they were so huge and could afford to take the financial loss and carry on – and that brought us the N95! Where Motorola (who were the 2nd biggest) couldn’t and in consequence effectivly died. Does SE want to do the same thing? We have big players with innovative and ground breaking products coming into the market, LG and Samsuns know what they have to do, and they have the ideas to back it up. Take for example the top S60 handset right now? No it’s not a Nokia it’s the Innov8 from Samsung.
The game is getting harder and SE could not have done the more to put themselves at a deficit to try and catch up with it. From being the 3rd biggest and potentially having the opportunity to become 2nd (beating Motorola) they have done exactly the opposite!
Personally I don’t see anthing new or exciting coming from SE in the next few years. Nokia has the might, Apple has the sex appeal, LG and Samsung have innovation and a huge Asian market if things go wrong, what has SE got? A bleak future.
Excellent piece! I hope someone from SE is reading this and takes note! Bravo!
Excellent piece! I hope someone from SE is reading this and takes note! Bravo!
ofcourse sonyericsson have things going on that would please esatopeople.nowone her knows the hole strategi fore the future…not mizzle and not eldar……….
ofcourse sonyericsson have things going on that would please esatopeople.nowone her knows the hole strategi fore the future…not mizzle and not eldar……….
This post is great.
The problem of SE now is not only similar products but also the long way to the market of its new products.
You can look at Apple, Samsung and HTC, the time from reveal to launch is only from 1 to 3 months. The time to launch new products of SE is at least half a year and even we don’t know when new products are lanched like the case of X1.
Now, SE can only compete with other manufacturers on idea. SE can not compete on the products.
I have a very little hope that SE have spent the millions dollars of profit on the right way.
This post is great.
The problem of SE now is not only similar products but also the long way to the market of its new products.
You can look at Apple, Samsung and HTC, the time from reveal to launch is only from 1 to 3 months. The time to launch new products of SE is at least half a year and even we don’t know when new products are lanched like the case of X1.
Now, SE can only compete with other manufacturers on idea. SE can not compete on the products.
I have a very little hope that SE have spent the millions dollars of profit on the right way.
Someone please send this link to official person at SE.
Thank you very much.
Someone please send this link to official person at SE.
Thank you very much.
Well done miz
you’ve voiced out all the gripes i had 
Well done miz
you’ve voiced out all the gripes i had 
SE phones GPS is useless without bundle maps. Google map is just a joke they want you to use it thus the carrier can earn more money from you.
SE phones GPS is useless without bundle maps. Google map is just a joke they want you to use it thus the carrier can earn more money from you.
An enlightening read, one that is not polluted by the absolute bias and prejudice some “Journos” are mastering these days.
Like you said Michell, the whole copy-paste strategy was/is the biggest mistake SE did. Incidentally, this is THE reason why a me, hitherto Nokia exclusive user, bid that brand goodbye. However, Nokia is a huge company, has a truly global presence and can sustain decent enough volumes for all of those copy-paste specials. SE is a tiny company in comparison and should concentrate on providing true alternatives, like they did at their prime.
However, this does NOT mean the same old “3.5 mm jack blah blah blah” that most senseless commenters resort to, whenever a new article on SE is penned. No. Just because the other guy has it doesn’t mean SE has to have it too. What they should provide instead, is useful technology. And a “Unique” factor that one can’t find elsewhere.
The “Walkman” and “Cybershot” brandings were steps in the right direction. But as you mentioned, low end products sporting these brand names are taking away from the exclusivity factor. If it were upto me, things would be as follows:
1) Only 5MP and above under the Cybershot lineup. Not necessarily because bigger is better, but coz numbers make for great marketing tools. Also, the top end offerings should sport optical zoom and Xenon flashes. Price them at a premium. With such features, they’ll be truly worth it.
2) The snapshot series should sport MP counts one step shy of the Cybershot ones. For the moment, this’ll be 3.2 MP. when CS moves on to 10MP and henceforth, the snapshots can go incrementally up to 5MP and so on. LED flashes are a must here, as is AF. A candybar, a slider and a clamshell is ALL THAT IS NEEDED in this category. upper mid end pricing.
3) Make the J,K and the T series the workhorses. low-mid end pricing, decent enough features. The J&K series should rightfully focus more on developing economies.
4) My favorite series, the Walkmans should come with the full spectrum of shake control features, which should be EXCLUSIVE for the brand (Although, the other series can have different applications for the accelerometer). Ideally, they should all come with some serious dedicated audio processing, and this means a bit more Sony than Ericsson. Noise canceling headphones should be standard issue, but i couldn’t care less about a 3.5mm jack. A decent AF camera would suffice. Again, price at a premium. Anything lower than a W595 is not worth the Walkman tag.
5) I have no idea what they have in mind for the F series, so I’ll wait and watch this one.
6) The Xperia is a step in the right direction as far as smartphones are concerned. So is the three-way slider that was spied elsewhere. These are products with a definite “exclusive” factor to them. More of the kind, I say.
An updated Paris would be great too. The design of the phone, to me at least, was stellar. With UIQ dying a slow death though, S60 seems to be the OS of choice.
Sorry for the long comment. My two cents turned out to be a bit more than that. :p
An enlightening read, one that is not polluted by the absolute bias and prejudice some “Journos” are mastering these days.
Like you said Michell, the whole copy-paste strategy was/is the biggest mistake SE did. Incidentally, this is THE reason why a me, hitherto Nokia exclusive user, bid that brand goodbye. However, Nokia is a huge company, has a truly global presence and can sustain decent enough volumes for all of those copy-paste specials. SE is a tiny company in comparison and should concentrate on providing true alternatives, like they did at their prime.
However, this does NOT mean the same old “3.5 mm jack blah blah blah” that most senseless commenters resort to, whenever a new article on SE is penned. No. Just because the other guy has it doesn’t mean SE has to have it too. What they should provide instead, is useful technology. And a “Unique” factor that one can’t find elsewhere.
The “Walkman” and “Cybershot” brandings were steps in the right direction. But as you mentioned, low end products sporting these brand names are taking away from the exclusivity factor. If it were upto me, things would be as follows:
1) Only 5MP and above under the Cybershot lineup. Not necessarily because bigger is better, but coz numbers make for great marketing tools. Also, the top end offerings should sport optical zoom and Xenon flashes. Price them at a premium. With such features, they’ll be truly worth it.
2) The snapshot series should sport MP counts one step shy of the Cybershot ones. For the moment, this’ll be 3.2 MP. when CS moves on to 10MP and henceforth, the snapshots can go incrementally up to 5MP and so on. LED flashes are a must here, as is AF. A candybar, a slider and a clamshell is ALL THAT IS NEEDED in this category. upper mid end pricing.
3) Make the J,K and the T series the workhorses. low-mid end pricing, decent enough features. The J&K series should rightfully focus more on developing economies.
4) My favorite series, the Walkmans should come with the full spectrum of shake control features, which should be EXCLUSIVE for the brand (Although, the other series can have different applications for the accelerometer). Ideally, they should all come with some serious dedicated audio processing, and this means a bit more Sony than Ericsson. Noise canceling headphones should be standard issue, but i couldn’t care less about a 3.5mm jack. A decent AF camera would suffice. Again, price at a premium. Anything lower than a W595 is not worth the Walkman tag.
5) I have no idea what they have in mind for the F series, so I’ll wait and watch this one.
6) The Xperia is a step in the right direction as far as smartphones are concerned. So is the three-way slider that was spied elsewhere. These are products with a definite “exclusive” factor to them. More of the kind, I say.
An updated Paris would be great too. The design of the phone, to me at least, was stellar. With UIQ dying a slow death though, S60 seems to be the OS of choice.
Sorry for the long comment. My two cents turned out to be a bit more than that. :p
Also, I might add, a Bravia series sitting on top of the hierarchy would be just great.
This should be a heavily media oriented series with stellar displays, great built-in speakers, hardware video decoding (in all the popular formats, including DivX) and (for the time being), a 5MP camera with Xenon flash (so that it doesn’t encroach into cybershot territory). Also, big on-board memory (we’re talking 16GB+) and support for BOTH M2 and SD should be on-board. Additionally, an HDMI output should also be provided. Granted, the battery life would be nothing to write home about, but the series shouldn’t give any other reason to complain about.
The was I see it, now each series would have a USP:
- Cybershots with optical zoom and the highest MP count.
- Walkmans with DSPs and shake control
-Bravias with hardware video decoding, awesome displays and advanced memory/ signal out options.
That’s all I got, I guess.
Also, I might add, a Bravia series sitting on top of the hierarchy would be just great.
This should be a heavily media oriented series with stellar displays, great built-in speakers, hardware video decoding (in all the popular formats, including DivX) and (for the time being), a 5MP camera with Xenon flash (so that it doesn’t encroach into cybershot territory). Also, big on-board memory (we’re talking 16GB+) and support for BOTH M2 and SD should be on-board. Additionally, an HDMI output should also be provided. Granted, the battery life would be nothing to write home about, but the series shouldn’t give any other reason to complain about.
The was I see it, now each series would have a USP:
- Cybershots with optical zoom and the highest MP count.
- Walkmans with DSPs and shake control
-Bravias with hardware video decoding, awesome displays and advanced memory/ signal out options.
That’s all I got, I guess.
SE will become a like of BenQ if it doesn’t find the way.
SE will become a like of BenQ if it doesn’t find the way.
Did everybody already forget that
Sony Ericsson’s W910 Walkman® was awarded GSM Association’s Best Handset 2008 ?
So, there are also positive things to tell about SEs products.
Did everybody already forget that
Sony Ericsson’s W910 Walkman® was awarded GSM Association’s Best Handset 2008 ?
So, there are also positive things to tell about SEs products.
Like the Finn said it… SE has copied the Nokia strategy; Years ago Nokia used to press release one new phone per day
If you compare the portofolio of SE and Nokia 3 years ago the difference was incredible.
I don’t understand why the chaged their strategy (marketing ???) now the SE portofolio is so complex that choosing a phone is a damned task. What customers need ? A low, mid and a high end phone more or less.
Like the Finn said it… SE has copied the Nokia strategy; Years ago Nokia used to press release one new phone per day
If you compare the portofolio of SE and Nokia 3 years ago the difference was incredible.
I don’t understand why the chaged their strategy (marketing ???) now the SE portofolio is so complex that choosing a phone is a damned task. What customers need ? A low, mid and a high end phone more or less.
Wonderful article, very readable!
now, to the dilemmas:
A. You said about SE: “…that’s no way to run a company – to create products and hope that they’re bought based on their looks rather than functionality and features.”
It made me laugh, because it pretty much sums up Apple’s strategy with the overrated iPhone. And you know most of the customers purchasing an iPhone are doing this mainly because of the buzz and looks, not because the impressive set of features.
How will you explain that?
B. Another thing I found funny is what you said about “copy\paste phones” as you called it.
It reminded me of other company, you might know it, Nokia which has TONS of copycats of the same boring and everything-but-rich set of features, and hey, their the number 1 cellular company in the world (I really don’t like them, just for the record…)
How do you explain that?
Keep on, your the best when it comes to SE! (Articles, News, Reviews)
Have a <SE ICON> day!
Wonderful article, very readable!
now, to the dilemmas:
A. You said about SE: “…that’s no way to run a company – to create products and hope that they’re bought based on their looks rather than functionality and features.”
It made me laugh, because it pretty much sums up Apple’s strategy with the overrated iPhone. And you know most of the customers purchasing an iPhone are doing this mainly because of the buzz and looks, not because the impressive set of features.
How will you explain that?
B. Another thing I found funny is what you said about “copypaste phones” as you called it.
It reminded me of other company, you might know it, Nokia which has TONS of copycats of the same boring and everything-but-rich set of features, and hey, their the number 1 cellular company in the world (I really don’t like them, just for the record…)
How do you explain that?
Keep on, your the best when it comes to SE! (Articles, News, Reviews)
Have a <SE ICON> day!
@arnian
yea, the w910i won Best Handset of 2008 under the category of the WORST firmware, random restarts, and stability issues.
@arnian
yea, the w910i won Best Handset of 2008 under the category of the WORST firmware, random restarts, and stability issues.
SE should include Lunar Calender in the cellphones and its Contacts should distinguish Chinese Type of Name.
If SE does that, SE will win Billion of man’s heart in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and many people in other countries in South East Asia.
SE should include Lunar Calender in the cellphones and its Contacts should distinguish Chinese Type of Name.
If SE does that, SE will win Billion of man’s heart in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore and many people in other countries in South East Asia.
Great article, I was starting to look elswhere…..I’m wondering if HTC is good enough for SE, then why shouldn’t I buy an HTC phone as opposed to a SE branded HTC??? personally I am against the HTC brand as too many people I know have more probs with them than I do with SE. Can’t stand Microsoft and their monopoly so no X1 for me. Very disappointed with SE for even thinking X1. my next phone will be G900. I left Nokia for the T610 and have loved every SE since then, P900, P990 and W880 not to mention all the accessories and PS3 and PSP I’ve bought! But I will say this, if G900 is not up to scratch, I will change brand. Looks AND functionallity are equally important.
Great article, I was starting to look elswhere…..I’m wondering if HTC is good enough for SE, then why shouldn’t I buy an HTC phone as opposed to a SE branded HTC??? personally I am against the HTC brand as too many people I know have more probs with them than I do with SE. Can’t stand Microsoft and their monopoly so no X1 for me. Very disappointed with SE for even thinking X1. my next phone will be G900. I left Nokia for the T610 and have loved every SE since then, P900, P990 and W880 not to mention all the accessories and PS3 and PSP I’ve bought! But I will say this, if G900 is not up to scratch, I will change brand. Looks AND functionallity are equally important.
ok. you have caught me! great site, great reviews, great comments. This is by far the best site I’ve seen and extremely informative.
Great work, keep it up and thank you for your honesty.
ok. you have caught me! great site, great reviews, great comments. This is by far the best site I’ve seen and extremely informative.
Great work, keep it up and thank you for your honesty.