• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, December 27, 2007 11:47 AM

The combined Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB produces popular phones neither parent could make on its own, melding Japanese and Swedish practices along the way. It paired Sony's Walkman brand with Ericsson's wireless technology, for example, to create one of the first music cell phones. Sony Ericsson has sold more than 45 million Walkman phones to date, helping boost its global market share to nearly 9%, up from around 6% two years ago.

New president Hideki Komiyama now faces a key project: making games on mobile phones look good enough and be fast enough to use Sony's popular PlayStation brand. If the gaming experience doesn't measure up, Sony risks damaging the brand, says Sony Ericsson's head of product portfolio and planning Rikko Sakaguchi. He figures that a PlayStation phone could still be years away.

Komiyama will have to juggle the push into low-priced phones for emerging markets while also expanding the company's range of very high-end phones. Some analysts expect Komiyama to use his marketing know-how and connections to persuade shops that stock other Sony goods to add Sony Ericsson phones.

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