-Our key focus is to be the number one supplier of multimedia handsets by 2006," said Cameron Cooper senior marketing manager for Sony Ericsson mobile communications Australia. According to industry Web site Cellular Online, Sony Ericsson is the fifth largest handset producer, with a 7.3 percent market share compared to Nokia's 35.6 percent share.
After launching its first Australian colour screen mobile, the T68, in February, Sony Ericsson will release the Internet-enabled equivalent, the T68i, in April.
Responding to reports of declining mobile sales world wide, Cooper said: -This year will be a year of two halves. In the first half handset sales will be a little bit down on what they have been; two thirds will be replacements."
-It is the responsibility of Sony Ericsson to bring out useful and meaningful upgrades, providing consumers with a reason to upgrade," he added.
Sony Ericsson plan to achieve this goal by focussing on three key areas: Imaging and messaging, connectivity, and entertainment. -With the exception of one or two, all new Sony Ericsson phones will have colour screens, and be GPRS enabled," said Cooper.
In the third quarter Sony Ericsson plans the launch of several new phones. The P800 is a multimedia smartphone with an inbuilt camera, and the T206 is GPS enabled. The Z700 is a mobile gaming phone with a colour screen, which will have -colour games and shooting sorts of games, as well as the inbuilt ability to download new games," according to Cooper.
