Sony Ericsson is coming out with three high-end mobile handsets -- including one called the Satio that will cost about $800 -- even as smartphone competition increases and overall mobile phone sales
sag, Gustav Sandstrom reports. The joint venture between Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson and Japan's Sony, plans to launch the multi-feature phones in the fourth quarter.
The new phones
will build on Sony Ericsson's experience in music, imaging and games, according to Joakim Liljedahl, head of the company's business-management operations for the Nordic region. It is dubbing the
system "Entertainment Unlimited."
"It probably is a good idea to have more strength in the high end" of the handset market, says Enders Analysis analyst James Barford. Sony Ericcson has
been "quite weak in the high end as of late, and there is a lot of money and a lot of margins to make there," he says. Sales of more sophisticated smartphones, in fact, were up 12.7% in the first
quarter from a year earlier, according to Gartner.
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