INTERVIEW: Sony Ericsson Aims to Be Top 3 Handset Maker

BARCELONA -(Dow Jones)- Sony Ericsson plans to increase its marketshare within China, India and North America, as part of its strategy to become a top three global handset maker by 2011, the company's President Dick Komiyama told Dow Jones Newswires late Sunday.

The world's fourth largest phone maker by sales, and a joint-venture between Sony and Ericsson, launched seven new handsets at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Sunday night, including its first high-end smartphone using Microsoft's Windows Mobile software.

"We have a strong desire to be one of the top three players in the industry. By 2011 we will be achieving this," said Komiyama.

Komiyama said North America will be one of the first markets that its Xperia X1 smartphone will launch in, with other clamshell-designed phones, popular in the U.S., also targeted towards capturing customers in the world's largest mobile phone market.

India and China, two of the world's fastest growing, highly populated markets, will also be a focus for Sony Ericsson, says Komiyama. He expects the company's relationship with Safran's mobile phone unit Sagem to start bearing fruit in the second half of the year. The two companies announced a partnership last year, aimed at making cheaper priced handsets for Indian and Chinese markets, where many phone users have lower disposable incomes compared to North America and Europe.

"The second half of this year we will see more strong growth in the Indian business," said Komiyama.

Komiyama declined to comment on whether Sony Ericsson is interested in buying Motorola's handset unit, which Motorola last week indicated could be up for sale. But seemed to quash the idea by adding that Sony Ericsson had developed its own strong range of handsets, as well as a distribution channel, which was starting to payoff in Motorola's largest market, North America.

Despite launching a phone that uses Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform, Komiyama said the company remained committed to its UIQ software, that runs on rival Symbian technology.

"The relationship with UIQ is a strong one and Motorola has now joined us in using this software. There is no deviation in our strategy, we just choose the right technology for the right market," he said.

-By Daniel Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9264; dan.thomas@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 11th February 2008