Martin Garner, Director of Wireless Intelligence at Ovum comments on:
Sony Ericsson expands its portfolio
Sony Ericsson yesterday announced 6 new phones, 8 accessories and a raft of new software to enhance the functionality of its devices, all for shipment in Q3 or Q4. The launch included:
Z320 - entry-level GSM compact clamshell aimed at the sub €100 segment, 1.3 Mpixel camera
Z250 - entry-level GSM clamshell, with premium metallic finish
K530 - mid-range enterprise candybar, Sony Ericsson's first step into GPS
K850 - upgrade of the K800/810, candybar Cybershot device with a 5 Mpixel camera, HSDPA
W910 - upper mid-range slider aimed at overall entertainment functions, 2 Mpixel camera, 30 frames/second video playback, HSDPA, 12.5 mm thick
W960 - refresh of the W950 flagship music device, 8 Gb on-board memory, 2.6" display, 3.2 Mpixel camera, WiFi, touch screen + normal keypad + jog dial
The accessories included a wired headset with a GPS receiver built in, three other headset variants, a desk music stand and three new designs of the Bluetooth Fossil watch.
Full commentary below:
Phew! Having launched four phones only a month ago in different areas of the portfolio, Sony Ericsson has now refreshed and expanded its portfolio in a number of areas at once, lining up for the 3rd and 4th quarters this year.
But this is not just about rounding out the portfolio, there are some very interesting moves in here.
At the low end, the Z320 and Z250 are about broadening and refreshing the portfolio. There's little that's truly new, except the use of premium materials to appeal to the more design conscious and the use of a 1.3 Mpixel camera at such a low price point.
The K530 is ultra conservatively styled in stainless steel, similar to the Nokia E60, so it passes the 'Boardroom table test'. It is a WCDMA phone, with a 2 Mpixel camera. It also uses the Opera Mini browser and Java push email. But it comes bundled with the new HGE100 wired headset that includes a GPS receiver - when you plug the headset into the phone, the receiver is powered from the phone and passes GPS data into it. The phone is also bundled with a renewable subscription to Wayfinder 7 for navigation.
The K850 builds on the spectacular success of the K800/810 and refreshes the range. It is slimmer and smaller, but carries a somewhat larger screen and is designed to be a proper viable alternative to a mid-range digital camera The Cybershot software has been overhauled, using Sony's media bar UI. It is also the first Sony Ericsson phone that allows use of an SD memory card (as well as Sony's proprietary Memory Stick).
The W910 is a similar concept to Motorola's 'media monster' Z8. It has a full suite of entertainment functionality in a slim slider form factor. It carries 1Gb of on-board memory and uses HSDPA for high speed 3G. It has dedicated gaming buttons and is one of several in this launch to incorporate an accelerometer, which is used to help control the action in some of the games. It has good quality speakers but it is still an agreeably thin device at 12.5mm thick.
The W960, like the recent P1, is slightly less than we would have hoped for. Yes it has double the on-board memory of its older sibling, an improved keypad, a better camera, WiFi and very good loudspeakers. And, yes, it brings back the jog-dial, a popular feature from the earlier P900. But it's not as sexy as the W950, it doesn't have HSDPA or the accelerometer (and clever software that goes with it). So, for a true flagship device, it feels a bit of a let down. Sony Ericsson seems to be able to push things forward faster in its mid-range than it can at the top end right now.
Also interesting in this announcement is the focus on what you do with the devices. Sony Ericsson is launching a number of applications, which are used on these phones:
· an upgrade of TrackID - the popular software that identifies music, overhauled to enable searching by snippets of lyrics, downloading lyrics/discography, saving searches
· an upgrade to PlayNow - extending the preview functionality to all forms of media, so users can preview games, videos, ringtones, wallpaper
· a new PC media manager - to manage all forms of media, not just music
· a new Walkman player - works with the accelerometer to switch between landscape and portrait modes, plus control the music with gestures (like the Nokia 5500 sport)
· SenseMe - using meta data from the music to plot the songs as dots on a graph of Happy-Sad vs. Fast-Slow, so that you can select a mood and either play a song or create a playlist visually
· Media Bar UI - an important step here, to use the UI developed by Sony for the PSP and other products. Sony Ericsson is putting it to good use here for camera functions (in the K850) and media (in the Walkman devices). This is not as revolutionary as Apple's iPhone is reckoned to be, but it is a good step forwards, based on a proven UI design.
Well done Sony Ericsson. There is a lot of new stuff to digest from them over the last month - Motorola take note.
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