Sony Ericsson Launches New Handsets To Challenge Nokia

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Sony Ericsson, the world's fourth-largest mobile phone maker by volume, Tuesday moved to strengthen its position in both premium and emerging markets, putting further pressure on rival Nokia.

The London-based joint venture between Ericsson and Sony aims to take market share from Nokia's loss-making enterprise division and has previously signaled plans to increase its presence in emerging markets, where there's rapid growth in mobile handsets.

Sony Ericsson's market share and revenues have grow during the past few quarters as a result of growing demand in Western Europe for handsets that include high-quality cameras and digital music players.

Sony Ericsson's new P1 handset will compete with Research in Motion's BlackBerry Curve and Samsung Electronic's Blackjack, which uses Microsoft software.

The P1 handset will allow uses to connect to wireless networks, make phone calls over the Internet and scan business cards.

It has a full alphanumeric keyboard, supports BlackBerry Connect email and has a touchscreen.

The company Tuesday also announced plans to sell more basic handsets in emerging markets, where there's rapid growth.

In the past, analysts have said Sony Ericsson may struggle to increase its emerging market presence due to a lack of basic, low-cost handsets popular in rapidly expanding markets such as India and Latin America.

On Tuesday, the company announced a new T250 low-end phone which will compete with Nokia's Barracuda handset in emerging markets.

The T250 phone, aimed at emerging markets such as India, features a camera and FM radio. The company also launched two mid-range handsets, the T650 and S500 models, which are slim-line, and have less emphasis on digital music players.

Rival Nokia has managed to increase its worldwide share of the mobile phone market to 36% over recent quarters by targeting markets such as India and China, where mobile penetration is fairly low at 13% and 35%, respectively. India has more than 166 million mobile subscribers and this is growing rapidly.

Company Web site: http://www.sonyericsson.com

-By Peter Stiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9373; peter.stiff@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 8th May 2007