“Future Sony Ericsson phones launched under its new Xperia brand may not be based on Microsoft Windows, the handset maker said at the launch of its digital marketing campaign for the Xperia X1 on Monday,” Georgina Prodhan reports for Reuters.
“The X1, which will be the premium phone in Sony Ericsson’s portfolio when it starts shipping later this month, is Sony Ericsson’s first smartphone powered by Windows Mobile and was seen as boosting Microsoft’s presence in the smartphone market,” Prodhan reports.
“But the loss-making joint venture of Japan’s Sony and Sweden’s Ericsson was reluctant on Monday to reveal any details of future models that may be launched under the Xperia brand, of which the X1 is the first. ‘The brand is not tied into any specific technical platform,’ said Magnus Andersson, product manager for the X1,” Prodhan reports.
“Sony Ericsson, which denied earlier this month the X1 would miss the key Christmas sales period, reiterated on Monday that the phone would start shipping to Britain, Germany and Sweden on Sept. 30. It declined to give prices,” Prodhan reports. “An announcement about North America — a market Sony Ericsson has said it would make a top priority this year — will be made on Nov. 3, a spokeswoman said.”
“Dean Bubley, founder of wireless research firm Disruptive Analysis, said the later rollout in North America could be due to the greater complexity of wireless networks there,” Prodhan reports. “U.S. operator AT&T had teething problems with the recent introduction of the third-generation (3G) version of Apple’ iPhone, which uses advanced networks, and the X1 is more complex in its requirements.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JES42” for the heads up.]
Uhh, how, exactly, is the X1 more complex? You pull data and you push data…. that’s about it! Unless they’ve created some mess in their hardware/software design, it should be just like any other smart phone….
John
You hit it right on the head: “…mess in the software design.” Does ‘The brand is not tied into any specific technical platform,’ mean they are fishing for a technology?
MW: over-as in it’s over for Sony-Ericcson.
hee hee. (an interjection of glee)
Read Bubley on Seeking Alpha. A complete and utter, clueless jackass.
Why introduce X1 w/ WMobile when they are going to ABANDON that platform in future versions? That’s not exactly a selling point for new buyers to be told that Sony will produce a completely different OS in the future. As a buyer, I would be inclined to wait until they got their sheeet together and committed to a platform–rather than risk having legacy support amputated in the near future..