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HelpIn case you haven’t seen it already Eldar Murtazin over at Mobile-Review has published an open letter to Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg. The jist of the letter is essentially to give a wake up call to Sony Ericsson over their lacklustre performance these past few years. It’s a sentiment close to many Sony Ericsson fans’ hearts and as such I thought I would spend a few moments presenting my own thoughts on the matter.
The first thing to say is that Eldar hits the nail on the head with one simple idea: Sony Ericsson have been ignoring the problems they face. It’s as simple as that. I see them. You see them. Eldar sees them. The press sees them. Their competitors see them. In fact the only people who haven’t seen them, or have chosen not to, are Sony Ericsson themselves. Time after time we have been presented with the same tired old party line that Sony Ericsson remain innovative and cutting edge; it’s a lie that becomes more hollow the more it is repeated. It’s time to stop chanting this mantra and wake up to reality.
For too long Sony Ericsson has coasted, releasing handsets that are at best ‘ok’, just enough to sell reasonably well and keep the company from completely sinking. At worst they are handsets that are filled with flawed hardware and buggy firmware. I could list several examples, but you’ve probably already thought of a couple before you have even reached the end of this sentence. Time after time we see products released that can only be described as ‘not fit for purpose’. The W910? Buggy to the core. The W580? Poor quality keypads that consistently cracked. The C905? They plumbed new depths with this one, buggy software and poor quality hardware. It wasn’t always like this though. This is the same company that gave us the T610, the K750 and the P800. This is the company that introduced the Walkman music-phone and the Cybershot cameraphone. So where has it gone wrong?
Complacency. Self-denial. Laziness. Hubris. These are all traits Sony Ericsson have displayed over the past few years. Cutting corners on products to get them out whilst leaving customers with sub-standard handsets. A refusal to change with the market and an insistence on sticking to tired old formats like outdated operating systems and connection ports. Pathetic corporate controlled attempts at generating ‘buzz’ and ‘excitement’ over weak handsets that are consistently late to market. A clear example would be the X1. Announced almost a year before being launched in a vain attempt to promote excitement and build a following. It backfired because the excitement died down after almost a year with no handset available! The PR campaign surrounding the X1 was ill conceived too; a corporate directed initiative to create a social scene around the handset with a PR agency employed to create a blog about the product. Why not engage existing bloggers, who are actually fans, more widely? Come on chaps, is that the best that could be done for the X1?
I’m using some specific examples here, but the fact is that Sony Ericsson, as it currently stands, is rotten to the core. It exudes a tired sickly image of a man staggering down the road trying to live on past glories. Only he won’t admit the world has moved on and that his way of doing things no longer works. So what can be done?
Take risks. Don’t be afraid of releasing handsets that actually push boundaries. Give us products that make us sit up and say ‘wow’ when we first see them. Extra megapixels is not innovation. More memory is not innovation. Cutting corners is not innovation. Treating bloggers and the press with contempt, when and if they are approached at all, is not innovation. Handsets that offer never before seen features and applications is innovative. Products that do things in exciting new ways is innovative. Phones that give us the ability to make our lives easier are innovative. Connecting with customers, bloggers and the press instead of dealing with hired PR agencies is innovative.
I take no pleasure in writing this because it’s something that should never have to be written, but Sony Ericsson has always been my favourite phone manufacturer and so I feel compelled to say something. Eldar’s letter wasn’t borne out of malice and neither is this, quite the contrary. I want to see Sony Ericsson at the top of their game again and I know they can be. Your customers have stuck with you Sony Ericsson, they have suffered through all manner of poorly executed products and badly planned projects and it’s time you started to listen to them. Repeating the same tired platitudes that you listen, that you innovate and that you are at the forefront of the mobile market doesn’t wash with us anymore. We are tired of words, we want action. We want the Sony Ericsson we knew and loved back!
what u have said here is 100% true & i’m accepting it…we still wants SE to be the No.1 in market…i’m sure no one will forget its first walkman phone …
Lets cheerup…..
what u have said here is 100% true & i’m accepting it…we still wants SE to be the No.1 in market…i’m sure no one will forget its first walkman phone …
Lets cheerup…..
PUX – wow i am waiting but when is it releasing in india and US.. ?
PUX – wow i am waiting but when is it releasing in india and US.. ?
@akshay; Well that depends on the operators, I am not sure of that unfortunately. You need to call your favourite operator and ask them
In general U.S Carriers are very slow at accepting phones though, let’s hope the Indian carriers are not.
@akshay; Well that depends on the operators, I am not sure of that unfortunately. You need to call your favourite operator and ask them
In general U.S Carriers are very slow at accepting phones though, let’s hope the Indian carriers are not.
PUX – oh ok.. thanks a lot.. i am waiting.. satio might be the phone which will replace my awesome xperia x1..
PUX – oh ok.. thanks a lot.. i am waiting.. satio might be the phone which will replace my awesome xperia x1..
I love you. You just gave me a reference for my uni assignment comparing Apple’s iPhones, to Sony Ericsson’s.
Legend!
I love you. You just gave me a reference for my uni assignment comparing Apple’s iPhones, to Sony Ericsson’s.
Legend!
are you f*cking joking me? 550 euro for the satio?
the phone doesnt even have a qwerty keyboard! much less a proper screen resolution >.>
heres to hoping for an epic price drop within the next few weeks.
are you f*cking joking me? 550 euro for the satio?
the phone doesnt even have a qwerty keyboard! much less a proper screen resolution >.>
heres to hoping for an epic price drop within the next few weeks.
Top notch stuff costs that much my friend. A certain apple phones costs 30% more and the Omnia Hd is even more expensive.
But as always, you need a descent contract tied to it and then you don’t care about the total price
It’s gonna be mine on swisscom
Top notch stuff costs that much my friend. A certain apple phones costs 30% more and the Omnia Hd is even more expensive.
But as always, you need a descent contract tied to it and then you don’t care about the total price
It’s gonna be mine on swisscom
[...] weeks ago SE-NSE published an open letter to Sony Ericsson highlighting some of the problems they believe the company faces and calling on [...]
[...] weeks ago SE-NSE published an open letter to Sony Ericsson highlighting some of the problems they believe the company faces and calling on [...]
Sony Ericsson, it’s high time you started producing smartphones and touchscreen phones, for the high-end as well as the mid-range segments, if not the budget segments. Let go of your notion that “nobody needs a smartphone” or “how many people use or actually need the features on a smartphone?” Most do, so wake up. Bring some good QWERTY phones out in the market. Bring some good touchscreen phones out. Bring some good smartphones out. The hell, you guys were once real competitors to Nokia, but Samsung’s been more innovative than you, churning out product after good product, while you’ve been slipping down the drain. You’d better change…for the better…or (I hate to say this) your fate is going to be that of Siemens Mobile, where nobody would be interested in your products anymore. So, do you want to really take that route and commit Hara-Kiri, or do you wish to win back your fans and others?
Sony Ericsson, it’s high time you started producing smartphones and touchscreen phones, for the high-end as well as the mid-range segments, if not the budget segments. Let go of your notion that “nobody needs a smartphone” or “how many people use or actually need the features on a smartphone?” Most do, so wake up. Bring some good QWERTY phones out in the market. Bring some good touchscreen phones out. Bring some good smartphones out. The hell, you guys were once real competitors to Nokia, but Samsung’s been more innovative than you, churning out product after good product, while you’ve been slipping down the drain. You’d better change…for the better…or (I hate to say this) your fate is going to be that of Siemens Mobile, where nobody would be interested in your products anymore. So, do you want to really take that route and commit Hara-Kiri, or do you wish to win back your fans and others?
There is a Sony Ericsson event tonight to launch the Satio, Aino and Yari tonight at KL Life, Life Centre, Jalan Sultan Ismail.
9pm onwards, with performances from Camelia and DJ Gabriel.
Check out more in Facebook – Sony Ericsson Malaysia fan page.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Sony-Ericsson-Malaysia/188272383695?ref=ts
There is a Sony Ericsson event tonight to launch the Satio, Aino and Yari tonight at KL Life, Life Centre, Jalan Sultan Ismail.
9pm onwards, with performances from Camelia and DJ Gabriel.
Check out more in Facebook – Sony Ericsson Malaysia fan page.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Sony-Ericsson-Malaysia/188272383695?ref=ts