Sony Ericsson

Nokia to halve smartphone range, close flagship store

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:23:16 -0500

Having created a vast handset portfolio that did more to confuse potential purchasers, Nokia has admitted that its smartphone line-up needs a drastic pruning and plans to reduce its range of smartphones by 50 per cent.

Perhaps recognising that Apple managed to capture 3 per cent of the high-end market with the iPhone, Nokia says it will simplify the product range to allow the company to put more effort into fewer products. This effectively means cutting R&D and production costs by focusing on a smaller number of high impact smartphones.

Antti Vasara, head of Nokia's smartphones R&D, said the company could now put more effort behind the fewer products. "We have cut down unnecessary differentiation, so that we have a far more focused portfolio for next year."

Ian Fogg, an analyst at Forrester, commented that the move indicated Nokia being aggressive with its strategy in the smartphone market, rather than turning its back on it. "By reducing the number of models in its portfolio, Nokia is making it easier for developers to target its devices with applications that will work across all models." Fogg also suggested that a clearer product focus would give Nokia a far better marketing position around which to push its products in 2010.

A further sign of the times is Nokia's announcement that it will close its flagship Regent Street store in London, after disappointing sales. In a statement, the company said: "Nokia is crystallising its branded retail strategy, aiming at improving operational efficiency of its retail network. This requires revamping of the retail network."

Last year, Sony Ericsson closed its only UK-based flagship retail store after the outlet failed to turn a profit.

For more on this story:
Mobile Today

Nokia and Sony Ericsson cut R&D jobs

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:24:26 -0500

More than 300 R&D staff have been made redundant by Nokia as the company moves to developing fewer, but more popular, handsets. The company said 230 engineers at its Oulu, Finland, offices are to go, together with 100 based in Copenhagen, Denmark. This cull of R&D resource is part of Nokia's effort to trim costs at its handset division by more than €700 million.

Following Nokia's example, Sony Ericsson has announced it plans to close four of its smartphone centres, including the company's R&D centres in Sweden and India.

More than 130 R&D staff based at Kista, Sweden, will be cut, and around 100 consultants tied to the development centre are also in danger of losing their jobs. The Indian office will lose around 60 engineers as the company shifts from a focus on entry-level handsets toward smartphones.

Sony Ericsson said that it would also move its North American headquarters from North Carolina to Atlanta, and close down small operations in Miami, Seattle and San Diego.

For more on this story:
Reuters and The Local

Symbian loses key customer as Samsung walks

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:45:27 -0500

With the smartphone sector undergoing rapid growth, for Symbian to lose Samsung as a customer will come as a hammer blow to the company as it struggles to establish itself as a mass-market open OS provider.

The Korean company has announced that it will no longer use the Symbian OS in its smartphones from next year, believing that its own upcoming platform, Samsung bada, would be a better fit to the wide range of popular mass market touchscreen phones in its portfolio.

The move away from Symbian, according to Samsung's senior VP, Don Joo Lee, was part of a strategy rethink whereby the company wants to boost its handset shipments between 10 to 20 per cent from its 2009 target of about 200 million. While Samsung has confirmed it would continue to use Android and Windows Mobile, analysts have predicted the use of Windows Mobile would drop significantly next year.

Symbian has depended primarily on Nokia for support and this still seems secure, although there are indications that the company will place its bet on Maemo 6 for high-end smartphones in the years ahead. Sony Ericsson and multiple Japanese manufacturers building for NTT DoCoMo are Symbian's other major customers.

For more on this story:
Info Syncworld

Symbian apps developers question future of OS

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:08:20 -0400

Despite the exec director of Symbian, Lee Williams, placing great emphasis on the exciting enhancements planned for the mobile operating system (OS) at this week's Symbian Exchange and Exposition tradeshow, its applications developer community seemed to think otherwise.

Not helped by a total lack of up-beat announcements from the handset vendors offering Symbian-based handsets, the consensus from apps developers exhibiting at the event was that the OS was stagnating.

Visions Objects, which makes across-platforms handwriting apps, believed that Symbian had done little to keep up since the advent of Android. "I think that the approach of the operating system on mobile phones has changed in the last 12 months," said Denis Escleine, its business development manager. "It's now driven by the iPhone and accelerated by Android. I think Symbian is far behind... If there is no change in user friendliness, and opening of the environment, I think it will die--they have to react."

Other developers commented that the Symbian OS was becoming less popular with an increasing number of companies asking for apps to be built for them based on the iPhone or Android platforms.

Williams has attempted to combat these negative viewpoints, stating that handsets with the first fully open-source Symbian implementation would become available in the first half of 2010, with further versions scheduled to appear in handsets for the second half of 2010 and early 2011.

However, while this OS development roadmap might look sluggish in comparison to the competition, Williams claimed that over 450 new OS features were being planned for the next 12 to 18 months with a focus on NFC, a social web API and a new UI framework.

This update from Williams might be overshadowed by the rumour that Sony Ericsson--a long-term Symbian supporter--will launch it first Android-based handset next week, including a new UI similar to HTC's Sense UI.

For more on this story:
The Mirror

Rumour Mill: Is Red Bull on verge of pan-European MVNO Launch?

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:56:56 -0400

The energy drink vendor and F1 team sponsor, Red Bull, would appear to be fully prepared to unveil its MVNO service in Austria within the next few weeks. This move has triggered industry speculation that the company will then launch MVNO services in other European countries, mimicking Virgin Mobile with its exclusive networked SIM deals.

According to Red Bull Mobile's web site, Austrian consumers are to offer two exclusive network tariffs, named simply All and All+, the latter offering 2,000 texts and minutes and up to 2GB of Internet data transfer for €29. However, local observers claim that the most attractive feature of the Red Bull Mobile network appears to be its online Portal. The Portal is branded as the ultimate tool for accessing news, interviews, weather, sports and downloads from the world of Red Bull and beyond.

The initial handset portfolio includes Nokia's N97, 5730 and 5800, Sony Ericsson's C702 and G705, and Red Bull's very own dedicated BH-1 (manufactured by ZTE).

Whether the Red Bull brand--with its considerable marketing muscle, has the weight to break into the already over-crowded European MVNO market will be watched with interest by the cellular industry. While niche MVNOs continue to launch on an almost weekly basis, a pan-European strategy needs a multitude of skills and deep pockets--as seen with the attempt by Blyk to build a European empire.

For more on this story:
PR Fire

Don't be a midrange handset vendor, warns analyst

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:36:28 -0400

The strongest demand segments for handsets over the next five years will be for high-end and entry-level phones, says a new report from Juniper Research. The firm claims that these two bookends of the market are expected to account for nearly 80 per cent of all new mobile phones by 2014, or just over 1 billion units in total.

To this end, Juniper analyst Andrew Kitson believes that Apple, Nokia and BlackBerry maker RIM are well positioned to meet the strongest demands over this period, with the mid-range sector being dominated by LG and Samsung as they continue to see demand for these products in Latin America, Asia and parts of Europe.

However, Kitson claims the iPhone has changed the game for everyone, and that Motorola and Sony Ericsson might not be able to adapt sufficiently to survive.

"If a phone has wireless broadband, MP3/MP4 media players, touch-screen interfaces, etc., it's likely to do well. Hence, there have been so many iPhone emulators in recent months," said Kitson. However, he maintains that the growing acceptance of the iPhone and Blackberry among consumers have dealt blows to Motorola, which failed to innovate after its success with the ROKR and RAZR mid-tier lines.

The report states that low-cost handset shipments will number more than 700 million in 2014, up by 31 per cent from levels seen in 2008, albeit slightly down from a peak of 716 million in 2012, as some users begin to upgrade to costlier devices. "At the same time, smartphone shipment volumes will grow continuously across the forecast period, reaching almost 360 million by the end of the period. We therefore expect that midrange device sales volumes will fall by more than 41 per cent over the period," concluded Kitson.

For more on this story:
Eweek

Worst is over in handset space, claim analysts

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:55:00 -0400

The global handset market is on road to recovery, according to new figures from Strategy Analytics; Moto, Sony Ericsson may turn a corner in 2H/09.

The number of mobile handsets shipped worldwide in the second quarter was down significantly compared with 2008, but there are early signs of a recovery in the devices space, said Strategy Analytics. The analyst firm predicts that there will be further improvements in the second half of the year, potentially buoyed by new devices from current strugglers Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

Global handset vendors shipped 273 million units in Q2, versus 297 million a year ago, but that 8 per cent drop was significantly narrower than the 14 per cent year-on-year decline in Q1. The figure was also an 11 per cent increase on the 244.5 million units shipped in Q1, compared with an average of 5 per cent growth between Q1 and Q2 over the previous three years. Article

Nokia loses brand awareness as N97 'iPhone killer' launched

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:59:28 -0400

Somewhat hidden by the fanfare surrounding the launch of its new N97 flagship smartphone, Nokia is slipping down the league tables of handsets that appeal to teenagers. A new study across 30 markets involving over 110,000 teenagers indicates that, while retaining the top slot for the last three years, Nokia has experienced a year-on-year decline in popularity.

According to the study conducted by Global Habbo Youth Brand, only 21 per cent of teenagers named Nokia as the number one favourite, compared to 29 per cent in 2008. Nokia's recently announced drop in market share becomes even more apparent when looking at specific markets. Nokia is number one in only 13 countries, down from 15 last year.

Interestingly this list of 13 includes: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Finland, Italy, Malaysia, Morocco, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Spain and Venezuela. Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson registered #1 in nine countries but included a more impressive list: Austria, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Germany, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

The new pretenders, Samsung, LG and Apple are chasing Nokia and Sony Ericsson in the global list, with all three brands having moved up in the league table since last year. Apple, at number five, did not appear in the global top ten last year. Blackberry also enters the top ten for the first time, representing the greater mainstream appeal of smart phones.

The new N97, which comes equipped with more software and storage than many low-cost notebooks in a bid to regain market share lost to the iPhone, is being launched in more than 75 countries for around US$800 before subsidies. Nokia's VP for the N Series, Jonas Geust, said that the device was not a niche product. "Clearly our ambition is to have a similar success to the N95 family." The N95 has sold more than 10 million units as of the end March, according to Nokia.

For more on this story:
Cellular News and Bloomberg

Market recovery (probably) in sight, claims Sony Ericsson CEO

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:20:58 -0400

For a company struggling to remain above water, Sony Ericsson (SE) is perhaps one of the more unlikely handset manufacturers to predict that the global cell phone market will start to experience growth from Q3 or Q4 of this year. SE's CEO, Hideki Komiyama, has told Reuters that is was difficult to be definitive about whether the bottom of the market had been reached, but "I can see the trend. There are probable signs of improvement, but it is still a weak recovery."

This outlook, one of the first from a top-10 handset vendor, came as the marketing director of SE UK, David Hilton, admitted the company's problems had stemmed from having overloaded the market with a wide range of handsets. "The next year will see a smaller number of handsets on our portfolio. That means fewer products, which in turn helps lower costs but still means we can offer new and innovative propositions to help maintain our strong market share."

Hilton also confirmed SE would move away from the iconic Walkman and Cybershot sub-brands and, more crucially, why a PSP phone isn't high on the agenda for the company. "Sub-brands are something we're looking to step away from. When you're looking at the higher end of the market consumers want it all: good gaming, video, music, etc. With a sub-brand, you're kind of putting a limit on the phone."

The likelihood of a PSP handset--a topic that would appear to have caused friction with the SE organisation--remains unresolved with Hilton claiming that it had been problematic as to how to bring the true PlayStation experience to phones.

For more on this story:
Reuters and Tech Radar

Sony Ericsson needs US$1.3bn of refinancing, as mistakes surface

Paul Rasmussen — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:05:50 -0400

The Sony Ericsson handset JV is beginning to look increasingly shaky as the CEO of Ericsson admitted that it might need to pump more cash into the loss-making venture, and hinted that Sony would be the logical partner to acquire the entire concern. However, while neither company has mentioned the numbers involved, one financial analyst claimed that the two partners would need to invest a total of US$1.3 billion by year-end to keep Sony Ericsson (SE) afloat.

As speculation mounted regarding SE's future, the CEO, Hideki Komiyama, seemed unconcerned about the impact of talking through the mistakes the company had made. Notable among these were:

The Xperia X1 - intended as a rival to the iPhone, was little more than an experiment.
The strategy of basing its smartphones on the Symbian derivative UIQ was a mistake.
The handset portfolio was flawed, with product groups acting in isolation.

Having freely admitted that the company was ‘unfocused', Komiyama gave fresh impetus to the rumour that SE would in the future consider a gaming-oriented phone based on the famous PlayStation brand. SE is believed to have pitched a PSP phone to Sony some time last year but had been given the cold shoulder, so perhaps this renewed enthusiasm for the PSP phone provides an indication that Sony is becoming more influential in the future product strategy of SE.

A measure of SE's problems was illustrated in the Q1 handset shipment figures recently released by Strategy Analytics. This indicated that SE saw its numbers fall by 40 percent in the quarter, only outdone by Motorola with a 46 per cent drop.

For more on this story:
Electronista and Smart Brief