Sony Ericsson: Corporate Plans and 2011 Products

[jacques]

 

Sony Ericsson: Corporate Plans and 2011 Products

 

 

Last week, I had a chance to familiarize myself with Sony Ericsson 2011 products, or their plans for the first half of the next year, to be precise. Unfortunately, the company isn't learning from its own mistakes and appears to be willing to drop a brick again. Do you remember how enthusiastic everyone was about the Xperia X10? And how its sales dropped a few months afterwards, when there appeared some competition on the market, offering improved functionality due to better hardware and the latest Android versions? Sony Ericsson's problem was trying to enrich Android capabilities behind Google's back without being successful at that. It was a unique situation when the company, trying to create its own shell, would effectively follow Google's steps albeit not without some delay. With each Android update, the situation grew only worse as the shell had to be adapted to it, which took time and money. For instance, the newly released Sony Ericsson X8 is powered by Android 1.6 whereas its rivals have had versions 2.1 and 2.2 for quite a while already. Save for the Xperia X8, I can hardly think of any product released in fall 2010 and having version 1.6 onboard, which is a good indicator of how things are in Sony Ericsson's design bureau.

 

The company's motto for the first half of 2011 is going to be "blast from the past." Sony Ericsson is intended to be adding a number of familiar features to its Android phones, like equalizers or other additional software we have seen in A200 handsets. Unfortunately, there isn't going to be any software breakthrough there, the company is busy adapting its shell to the latest versions of Android, gradually increasing its functionality. And I am really disappointed with that. That is a survival strategy, which implies that many Android products will be treated as regular handsets. The aforementioned Sony Ericsson X8 is a good example. The very Xperia brand name is going to lose its value because of that.

 

Anyway, let's take a look at some products due in 2011 and likely to become major for the company. I am not going to talk about Windows Phone 7 here, as there are only two models there and they are hardly of any interest outside the U.S. market. Both are expected to be available in late Q1 or early Q2, which implies that the company is somewhat late with their release. Do they have any advantages over the competition? I don't know. I couldn't find any.

 

So, the Sony Ericsson X10 is going to be replaced with the Anzo/Kraken (I think, it will be marketed as the X12, but that hasn't been decided yet). The design is similar to that of the X10, but the new device is significantly thinner. It feels quite unusual in one's hand. It is very thin. And that is going to be one of the major features of the device, which is quite ordinary otherwise. Why is it ordinary? Similar models can easily be found in other manufacturers' Android flagship lineups. For example, the HTC Desire HD has the same 4.3-inch screen, 8-megapixel camera and is based on the MSM7230 hardware platform (surprise, surprise, you didn't know that about the Anzo, did you?). Since I am planning to write a first look at the new model in the nearest future, I am not going to touch upon its technical characteristics here. Therefore, please come back after a while to get a sneak peek at the Anzo. As of this writing, the Anzo is powered by Android 2.1 but they have promised to have it updated to version 2.3 by March 2011. It's a pity that the customers will have to wait for at least half a year for the latest version of Android. The expected price of the phone is EUR 650.

 

Compared to the competition, the model appears a little bit outdated already. While the Sony Ericsson X10 was announced prior to its analogues from other manufacturers, quite the opposite is true for the Anzo, which will become available on the market together with the Samsung Galaxy S II (or the i9100; the name is likely to be changed). And the latter, with its display, dual-core processor architecture and a number of other innovations, is to become one of the best Android flagships from the technological perspective. The HTC Desire HD, which is fairly comparable to the Anzo, is selling already. You can make your own conclusions now. Unfortunately, Sony Ericsson's development speeds are dropping and that is going to result in the Anzo sales being even lower than those of the X10. Below, you can find some pictures from X10 Blog. Ours will be available in the first look a bit later.

 

 

 

Let's continue. We know that Sony Ericsson has cut down on Symbian yet that doesn't mean that they are discarding the Vivaz and Vivaz Pro breeds. The latter are to get Android based replacements (version 2.1 initially; to be updated), not without the proprietary shell (including Timescape/Mediascape). I could not compare the older and newer models directly as I didn't have the former at my disposal, but it looks like the build quality has been improved. The successors appear somewhat bigger and more solid and generally, the pricing laid aside, I am quite satisfied with them. What Sony Ericsson is considering at the moment, that is, EUR 270 and EUR 320, doesn't seem to be reasonable at all, though. To make the models sell, they will have to lower the MSRP to EUR 200 and EUR 240, respectively. Any price above that will have a drastic effect on the volumes.

 

The family of the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro are getting an update, too. Expect some gradual improvements and enlarged screens that should make the devices more comfortable to use. However, the target audience is still the same – i.e. women, and hence the size of the models remains a priority. These are going to be niche models.

 

Unfortunately, the people I talked to didn't provide any comments regarding the low-end. All I could see was the touch-sensitive Yendo with a QWERTY keyboard due in summer 2011. Most of the sales are supposed to be generated by the previously announced models, which I don't find very attractive by the way.

 

Due to some reason, I didn't have a chance to take a look at the so-called PSP Phone. Apparently, the model is not intended for Russia and they didn't have a sample because of that. Based on the conversations I had, it looks like the device is still up in the air and even if it makes it to the market it will not be widely available. Everyone appears to be very skeptical about its prospects in general, which goes in line with my personal opinion.

 

To sum it up, it doesn't look like the sky is clear for Sony Ericsson. I can't see products that could generate any significant sales for the company. Moreover, I can't see any breakthrough in the 2011 Android lineup so that Sony Ericsson's share in the segment can be expected to go up. Obviously, I can't guarantee that all the employees know the whole product portfolio and that the company is not readying a series of other models in strict confidence. Yet such theory doesn't seem to make much sense. If it were true, Sony Ericsson would be having very different negotiations with wireless carriers right now. It's a pity but Sony Ericsson as a manufacturer is still going down. Defective units, lack of innovations that we praised the company so much for, market share decline, you name it. The current management hasn't been able to break the vicious circle. The company is losing not only money but also the market. This management can't make it profitable, can't turn it into a technological leader. I would really like to be wrong eventually but in my opinion the decline will continue and 2011 won't be a very successful year, especially in the light of HTC gaining momentum.

 

http://www.mobile-review.com/articles/2010/birulki-93-en.shtml

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