Sony chief ponders aloud over Sony Ericsson's future

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 2nd 2008 at 12:52AM

It's no secret that Sony Ericsson is a weak point in Sony's vast portfolio right now, underperforming fellow European rival Nokia by many, many points of market share globally. CEO Howard Stringer (that's Sir Howard Stringer to you, by the way) knows it better than anybody, mentioning to German newspaper Die Welt that he's trying to figure out a way to turn the joint venture around or spin it off. He mentions that "buying out a partner is never an easy thing," but goes on to say that if they can't work with Ericsson to turn things around, SE will have to "find its own solution." Those are big words coming from a big man with his finger hovering over a big, red button at all times -- so yeah, it's probably in everyone's best interest to get that X1 shipping on the double, eh?

Filed under: Sony Ericsson

Tags: ericsson, sony, sony ericsson, SonyEricsson

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Jamar @ Sep 2nd 2008 5:56AM

Easier solution- get back into the North American CDMA market. Take all of their older KDDI phones and start selling them on Alltel and Verizon. Guarantee they'll see sales pick up.

Neutral

PEZ @ Sep 2nd 2008 6:51AM

If the only thing SE can do to get ahead is beating Nokia, then they are in trouble regardless. They are in a Market that is over saturated with JUNK. Their savior phone is practically a friggin laptop, and will cost as much, I am sure. Low price usable phones with good features. This is why Nokia makes money.

Neutral

Jamar @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:23AM

"Low price usable phones with good features"

And that's exactly what they sell in Asia. Except Japan, where they compete in the "do-it-all" market- if you don't believe me look at the SO905i.

Highly Ranked

Chris @ Sep 2nd 2008 10:15AM

First Motorola, now Sony Ericsson damn Nokia is kicking butt

Highly Ranked

Matt @ Sep 2nd 2008 12:31PM

Maybe if they would release phones that are QUAD-BAND instead of tri-band, which essentially eliminates the entire United States market, that would help them too.

Take for instance the beautiful SE G900 (review: http://blog.se-nse.net/2008/07/02/sony-ericsson-g700-preview/), that is only a tri-band phone. All the United States sees of Sony Ericsson are their POS freebie phones that AT&T gives out for signing a contract, which break in 3 months.

I think SE should aim a little higher in the U.S. market and put out some quality phones. I understand that they are targeting the European market, but I still can't understand why they choose to put out phones that would be limited to that market. Can anyone enlighten me?

Neutral

Matt @ Sep 2nd 2008 12:34PM

sorry, i posted the wrong link in my above post.

Correct: http://blog.se-nse.net/reviews/sony-ericsson-g900-review/

Neutral

glitched @ Sep 2nd 2008 1:16PM

I agree. i love my w810i but its' 2 years old now. I'm looking to upgrade it to something in SE lineup, but cant find anything that is basically the same phone but improved/upgraded.

Neutral

Blackax @ Sep 2nd 2008 1:24PM

Look at the k850i

Neutral

Meniscus @ Sep 2nd 2008 9:12PM

T-Mobile doesn't offer an SE model at all, and AT&T only offers the low- and midrange phones... in the US the general public are using mostly Motorolas ("like, because that's what my BFF has"), with some Samsung and LG, and almost all of the "phone-philes" are buying Nokias... SE can't seem to wedge into either demographic. Maybe if they stepped up their US marketing... they've always come across as if the US market doesn't really matter to them that much.

I hate to see it happen, but their last lineup had alot of issues... the K790 had great features but the ergonomics were terrible, with that razor-sharp joystick, the horrible text-unfriendly keypad, and the small (although beautiful) display. The c700 and c900 look to have alot of promise but who knows if these are even going to be available through any of the US carriers?

Neutral

B_ROLIN @ Sep 2nd 2008 6:23PM

HOW ABOUT ENDGAGET GET UP IN SONY/ERICSONS ASS THE WAY THEY GET UP IN PALMS (TRANSLATION: SEND THEM A LETTER) AND TELL THEM WHAT THEY SHOULD DO TO GET THERE PHONES SALES UP ...?

Neutral

KilgoreTrout @ Sep 2nd 2008 7:16PM

Just give us the X1 experia & shut up.
After that I would'nt care crap if SE will survive or if it will have to dig 3 feet of soil to find its sorry butt.