The X10 handset is Sony Ericsson’s first to be powered by Google’s Android
operating system, and will go on sale in the first quarter of next year.

The new touchscreen mobile is an important milestone in the turnround strategy
of Sony Ericsson, which is a joint venture between Japan’s Sony and Sweden’s
Ericsson.

Hurt badly
Sony Ericsson has been badly hurt by its failure to produce attractive
touchscreen smartphones, as well as falling consumer demand for handsets
during the recession.

Analysts said Apple’s iPhone, launched in 2007, remained the best smartphone,
but added that the X10 would mount a genuine challenge to alternative
devices such as Nokia’s N97 and HTC’s Hero.

Bert Nordberg, Sony Ericsson’s new president, said the reaction from mobile
phone operators to the X10 had been “extremely positive”.

“We will be rolling out across the world including Japan from the first half
of 2010,” he added.

Not at pre-Christmas sales
Sony Ericsson said the X10 would not be available for the important
pre-Christmas sales period because it had not yet produced “sufficient
quantities”.

Like other handset makers, Sony Ericsson is seeking to capitalise on the
popularity of visiting social networking websites from mobiles.

The X10 features a software application called Sony Ericsson Timescape, which
integrates status updates on Facebook and Twitter in one place, alongside
email and text messages.

Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Gartner, said things had been getting “pretty
bad” for Sony Ericsson because of its lack of touchscreen smartphones that
focused on social networking.

She added that the Android operating system solved that problem for Sony
Ericsson, and brought the company “into the same era” as its rivals.

Sony Ericsson started running up operating losses in the second quarter of
last year, partly because its ageing range of handsets.

In the third quarter of this year, the company’s market share was 5 per cent,
down from 8 per cent in the same period in 2008.

Dick Komiyama, Sony Ericsson’s president until last month, began the company’s
turnround with an aggressive cost cutting programme, and Mr Nordberg is now
refreshing its range of handsets.

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