Sony Ericsson moving ahead with Android for China

Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg said the handset maker has no plans to delay the launch of its first Android smartphone in China. The announcement comes days after Google postponed indefinitely the launch of two Android handsets in the country following a dispute with China over cyber security.

"We don't expect any delay based on that situation," Nordberg said at a Tokyo news conference. "We expect to launch simultaneously in the whole world including China." The phone, the Xperia X10, will go on sale first in Japan through NTT DoCoMo in April, and in China shortly thereafter.

Google's two stalled Android phones, one by Motorola and another by Samsung, were scheduled to launch Wednesday with China Unicom. The delay was the first sign that Google's wireless efforts might be impacted by what the company has described as cyber security attacks originating in China and possibly directed by the government there. Google has threatened to withdraw from the country over the issue.

Sony Ericsson has much riding on the success of the X10, and has described the device as the flagship for a family of phones the struggling handset maker will release in the first half of this year. The device features a new user interface called UX, which appears to build on many of the advances HTC and Motorola have made with their own custom Android user interfaces. Sony Ericsson has not said if it will partner with a U.S. carrier for the X10.

For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this IDG News Service article
- see this IDG News Service article

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