Sony Ericsson
307315
225791967
2008-07-15T12:37:11Z
ADouBTor
2537975
/* Phone series description */
{{dablink|For an arrangement of Sony Ericsson products, see [[list of Sony Ericsson products]]}}
{{Infobox Company
| company_name = Sony Ericsson Mobile <small>Communications</small> AB
| company_logo = [[Image:Sony Ericsson logo.svg|180px|SonyEricsson]]
| company_type = [[Joint venture]]
| foundation = [[October 3]] [[2001]]
| location = Head Office: <br> {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[London]], [[United Kingdom]] <br>Incorporated:<br>{{flagicon|Sweden}} [[Sweden]]
| key_people = [[Hideki Komiyama]] (President) [[Anders Runevad]] (EVP)
| industry = Telecommunications
| products = [[Mobile phone]]s<br>[[Mobile music|Mobile music devices]]<br>[[Wireless|Wireless systems]]<br>[[Wireless|Wireless voice devices]]<br>[[Hi-Tech accessories]]<br>[[Wireless|Wireless data devices]]
| revenue = €10,959 million (2006)
| operating_income =
| net_income = €997 million (2006)
| num_employees = ~8,000
| parent = [[Sony|Sony Corporation]] (50%)<br>[[Ericsson|Ericsson AB]] (50%)
| subsid =
| homepage = [http://www.sonyericsson.com www.sonyericsson.com]
| font used for the logo = EF Digital Sans
| footnotes =
}}
'''Sony Ericsson''' is a [[joint venture]] established in [[2001]] by the [[Japan]]ese [[consumer electronics]] [[company]] [[Sony Corporation]] and the [[Sweden|Swedish]] telecommunications company [[Ericsson]] to make [[mobile phone]]s. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sony's consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson's technological leadership in the communications sector. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones.
The company's global management is based in [[Hammersmith]], [[London]], and it has research & development teams in [[Sweden]], [[Japan]], [[People's Republic of China|China]], [[Germany]], the [[United States]], [[India]], [[Pakistan]] and the [[United Kingdom]].
While Sony Ericsson has been enjoying strong growth recently, its [[South Korea]]n rival [[LG Electronics]] overtook it in Q1 2008 due to the company's profits crashing significantly by 43% to €133 million, sales falling by 8% and market share dropping from 9.4% to 7.9%, despite favourable conditions that the handset market is expected to grow by 10% in 2008. The situation is getting worse as Sony Ericsson announced another profit warning in June 2008<ref>http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/30/sony-ericsson-issues-second-profit-warning-of-the-year-expects/</ref>, leading to wide fear that Sony Ericsson is on the verge of decline along with its struggling rival, [[Motorola]].<ref>http://www.trustedreviews.com/mobile-phones/news/2008/04/24/Sony-Ericsson-Profits-Crash-48-/p1</ref>
Sony Ericsson has approximately 8,000 employees worldwide. The company's current President is as of [[November 1]] [[Hideki Komiyama]] (小宮山英樹), who has replaced [[Miles Flint]], and the Corporate Executive Vice President is [[Anders Runevad]].
==History==
Ericsson, which had been in the cellular phone market for decades, decided to divest this business in 2001 following huge losses. Ericsson had decided to source on chips for its phones from a single source, a [[Philips]] facility in [[New Mexico]]. In March 2000 a fire at the Philips factory contaminated the sterile facility. Philips assured Ericsson and [[Nokia]] (the other major customer of the facility) that production would be delayed by less than a week. When it became clear that production would actually be compromised for months, Ericsson was faced with a serious shortage. Nokia had already begun to obtain parts from alternative sources, but Ericsson's position was much worse as both production of current models and the launch of new ones was held up.<ref>''"When the chain breaks"'' (June 17, 2006). [[The Economist]]: A survey of logistics, p. 18.</ref>
In the United States, Ericsson partnered with General Electric in the early nineties, primarily to establish a US presence and brand recognition.
Sony Ericsson is the global title sponsor of the [[Women's Tennis Association]] (WTA), and works with the Association to promote the Tour in over 80 cities.
Sony Ericsson acquired [[UIQ Technology]], a Swedish software company from [[Symbian Ltd.]] in February 2007. UIQ will remain an independent company, Miles Flint announced.{{Fact|date=July 2007}}
On [[October 15]] [[2007]], Sony Ericsson announced on Symbian Smartphone Show that they will be selling half of its UIQ share to [[Motorola]] thus making [[UIQ]] technology owned by two large mobile phone companies.
==Types of phones==
===Main areas of interest===
[[Image:SE K750i.jpg|thumb|250px|The Sony Ericsson K750i is one of the most successful Sony Ericsson products.]]
Sony Ericsson currently concentrates on the categories of: music, camera, business (web and email), design, all-rounder, and budget focused phones. Its four largest categories are:
* The [[Walkman]]-branded W series music phones, launched in [[2005]].<br />The Sony Ericsson W-series music phones are notable for being the first music-centric series mobile phones, prompting a whole new market for portable music that was developing at the time. Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phones have previously been commercially endorsed by pop stars [[Christina Aguilera]] and [[Jason Kay]] across [[Europe]].
* The [[Cyber-Shot]]-branded line of phones, launched in [[2006]] in newer models of the K series phones.<br />This range of phones are focused on the quality of the camera included with the phone. Cyber-shot phones always include a flash, some with a xenon flash, and also include auto-focus cameras. Sony Ericsson kicked off its global marketing campaign for Cyber-shot phone with the launch of [[‘Never Miss a Shot’]]. The campaign featured top female [[tennis]] players [[Ana Ivanović]] and [[Daniela Hantuchova]]. On [[February 10]] [[2008]], the series has been expanded with the announcement of C702 and C902 phones.
* The [[BRAVIA]]-branded line of phones, launched in [[2007]] Japan market only.<br>Now, two mobile phones ([http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/product/foma/903i/so903itv/index.html FOMA SO903iTV] and [[FOMA]] SO906i) uses BRAVIA brand. BRAVIA branded phone are able to watch [[1seg]] terrestrial television.
* The [[UIQ]] smartphone range of mobiles, introduced with the P series in 2003 with the introduction of P800.<br />They are notable for their touchscreens, QWERTY keypads (on most models), and use of the UIQ interface Platform from [[Symbian OS]]. This has since expanded into the M series and G series phones.
* The Xperia range of mobile phones, heralded by the [[Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1]] on February 2008 at the Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM) held in Barcelona Spain , had opened the door for integration of [[Windows Mobile]] Operating System into Sony Ericsson powerhouse smartphones. XPERIA was the first trademark promoted by the Sony Ericsson as its own and is designated to provide technological convergence among its target user base
===Phone series description===
{| class="wikitable"
|-valign="top"
!Series
!Branding
!Description
!Origin
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | C
| style="text-align: center;" | [[Cyber-shot]]
| Camera focused phones.
| '''C'''yber-shot
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | D
| style="text-align: center;" | [[T-Mobile]]
| T-mobile network exclusive phones.
| '''D'''eutsche Telekom
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | F
| style="text-align: center;" | [[Vodafone]] (partial)
| Vodafone network exclusive phones; Gaming focused phones
| Voda'''f'''one / '''F'''un
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | G
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| Compact Touchscreen series.
| '''G'''eneration Web
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | J
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| Low-end series
| '''J'''unior
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | K
| style="text-align: center;" | Cyber-shot (partial)
| All-around phones
| '''K'''amera ''(Swedish for "camera")''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | M
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| Business focused smartphones.
| '''M'''essaging
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | P
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| Powerhouse smartphones.
| '''P'''DA
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | R
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| Phones with built-in AM/FM radio
| '''R'''adio
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | S
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| Fashion and camera focused phones.
| '''S'''wivel, 'S'lider, 'S'napshot
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | T
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| All-around phones
| '''T'''ala ''(Swedish for "talk")''
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | V
| style="text-align: center;" | Vodafone
| Vodafone network exclusive phones.
| '''V'''odafone
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | W
| style="text-align: center;" | [[Walkman]]
| Music-focused phones.
| '''W'''alkman
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | X
| style="text-align: center;" | [[Xperia]]
| Convergence and powerhouse devices.
| '''X'''peria
|-
| style="text-align: center;" | Z
| style="text-align: center;" | -
| Design-oriented phones
| '''Z'''e Bobber ''(Origin unknown)''
|}
===Naming convention===
====Current system====
After the 2008 [[Mobile World Congress]], Sony Ericsson announced their new naming system comprising of four characters, each character denoting the "Series", the "Range/Class", the "Version" and the "Form Factor" respectively.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Series
|Range/Class
|Version
|Form Factor
|-
|(see above for series letters)
|1-4: Low-end <br> 5-7: Mid-range <br> 8-9: High-end
|(in numerical order of succession)
|0-2: Candybar <br> 3-5: Slider <br> 6-8: Clamshell <br> 9: Others
|}
"a" and "c" suffixes are used to denote models specifically for American and Chinese markets, respectively <ref>[http://blog.se-nse.net/2008/02/25/new-nomenclature-of-upcoming-se-phones/ New Nomenclature of Upcoming Sony Ericsson Phones - Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
====Previous systems====
Sony Ericsson has used three methods in the past of naming their mobile products:
* The most common format uses a total of five (or six) characters, eg. K750i.<br />This format begins with a capital letter to denote the series of the phone ('''K'''750i). This is then followed by three numbers (K'''750'''i). The first number indicates the sub-series of the phone, the second indicates the amount of progression from the previous release, i.e. K7'''0'''0i to K7'''5'''0i, and the third number is always either a '0' or '8' and the letter '8' is used either to show a variation of the phone destined for a different market without a feature, eg. the W88'''8''' is a W880i without 3G, or it is used to separate phones which have identical specifications but the designs are different, eg. K61'''0'''i and the K61'''8'''i. Finally, the lowercase letter at the end of the model name describes the market for which a product is intended; these are: '''a''' for the Americas, '''c''' for China, and '''i''' stands for an international version; there is also an 'im' suffix used for branding [[i-mode]] phones. Often the last letter is left out to describe the phone generically with no region specific branding.
* A newer format (which has only been used on one phone to date) uses a total of three characters, eg. P1i. It is believed that this format is intended for naming flagship models of each phone series due to the limited numbering combinations.<br />It begins with a capital letter to denote the series of the phone ('''P'''1i). The number is used to indicate the amount of progression from the previous release (P'''1'''i) and the final lowercase letter, as explained above, describes the market for which a product is intended. Again, often the last letter is left out to describe the phone generically with no region specific branding.
* The oldest naming format uses a total of four characters, eg. T68i. This format continued from the naming scheme of the Ericsson mobile business and was only ever used once.<br />This format begins with a capital letter to denote the series of the phone ('''T'''68i). The first number indicates the sub-series of the phone (T'''6'''8i) and the second letter indicates the amount of progression from the previous release. The last lowercase letter indicates that it is an update of the previous model, i.e. T68 to T68'''i'''.
Another peculiar naming format was the one used in naming the Z1010; this format has not been used since the Z1010.
Furthermore, Sony Ericsson always give their phones codenames when developing. Mainly to keep the information secret and to prevent leaks. All codenames are girl names, and some have been taken from the female players of the Sony Ericsson-sponsored tennis tournament, WTA. A complete list of codenames can be found [http://blog.se-nse.net/codenames/ here].
==Financial information==
Sony Ericsson posted its first profit in the second half of [[2003]]. Since then, the sales figures from phones have been:
* 2004: 42 million units{{Fact|date=July 2007}}
* 2005: 50 million units<ref>[http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pc3_1_1&zone=pc&lm=pc3&prid=4532 Sony Ericsson reports record shipments, sales and profits], sonyericsson.com, [[January 18]] [[2006]].</ref>
* 2006: 74 million units<ref>[http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pc3_1_1&zone=pc&lm=pc3&prid=7012 Record quarter caps a record year for Sony Ericsson], sonyericsson.com, [[January 17]] [[2007]].</ref>
* 2007: 101.3 million units<ref>[http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/corporate/press/pressreleases/pressreleasedetails/q42007financialpressreleases-20080116 Sony Ericsson sells over 100 million handsets in 2007], sonyericsson.com, [[January 16]] [[2008]].</ref>
Also, Sony Ericsson sold 60 m music enabled phones in 2006, including 17 m Walkman devices, underlining how its products are more popular than Apple's iPod. Apple sold 46 m iPods in 2006.
According to the Swedish Magazine ''M3''s issue 7/2006 Sony Ericsson is the best-selling phone brand in the [[Nordic countries]], followed by [[Nokia]].
According to the [[Information technology|IT]] research firm [[Gartner]], in the third quarter of 2006, Sony Ericsson was the fourth largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world after [[Nokia]], [[Motorola]] and [[Samsung Electronics|Samsung]]. It held a 9% global market share.
==Compatibility==
During the [[E3]] Media and Business Summit, Feras Jad, [[Saudi Telecom]] representative showcased a Sony Ericsson phone using the PlayStation's [[XMB]]. A select group of phones are also said to integrate into [[PlayStation Home]] ''(final product)''
During the announcement of Sony Ericsson K850, W960 and W910. Some review sites have shown that those mentioned phones sport a new media manager to replace the standard Sony Ericsson File Manager which possesses a UI that resembles the XMB interface found on Sony PS3 and PSP products. The mobile developer site confirmed from their spec sheets and white papers that the XMB media manager is standard to the phones running Java Platform 8 also known as A200 Platform.
==See also==
*[[Sony]]
*[[Ericsson]]
*[[Disc2Phone]] - music management software made for Sony Ericsson phones
*[[SonicStage]] - music management software made for Japan market phones.
==References==
{{reflist}}
http://mobile.optima.ua/news.php?news_id=18016
==External links==
{{Commons|Sony Ericsson}}
;Official sites
*[http://www.sonyericsson.com/ Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB] – Official site
*[http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/corporate/home Sony Ericsson Corporate Homepage]
*[http://www.ericsson.com/ Ericsson.com]
*[http://www.sony.com/ Sony.com]
;Developers
*[http://developer.sonyericsson.com/ Sony Ericsson's Developers website (Official)]
*[http://www.ericsson.com/mobilityworld/ Ericsson's Developers website]
;Resources
*[http://www.esato.com Esato.com] – Sony Ericsson oriented forum
*[http://www.se-nse.net SE-NSE.net] – Sony Ericsson oriented forum and modding community
*[http://www.akshayy.com/sonyericsson/ SE Flashing] - Sony Ericsson flashing, customizing, tweaking, pimping, patching and much more.
*[http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/corporate/company/aboutus/mission Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB Company Profile]
*[http://www.sonyericsson.com/fun/portal Fun & downloads] – Sony Ericssons' downloads and mobile add-on's website
*[http://blog.se-nse.net Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog] – Unofficial Sony Ericsson fan blog and source of news, reviews, rumours and various information.
*[http://www.clubsonyericsson.com/en/index.php Unofficial Club Sony Ericsson] – Independent Sony Ericsson fan community and source of news and information.
*[http://www.yosecr.com YoSEcr.com] – Sony Ericsson Costa Rica - Sitio NO Oficial / Unofficial Site
*[http://se.blogvasion.com Sony Ericsson Blog] – Sony Ericsson oriented unofficial blog.
{{Sony Ericsson phones}}
{{Sony Corp}}
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[[Category:Sony Ericsson| ]]
[[Category:Consumer electronics brands]]
[[Category:Companies of Japan]]
[[Category:Companies of Sweden]]
[[Category:Technology companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Companies based in London]]
[[Category:Joint ventures]]
[[Category:Mobile phone manufacturers]]
[[Category:International joint-venture companies]]
[[Category:Companies established in 2001]]
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