One of the most eagerly-anticipated mobile phones in the first quarter of 2007 was Sony Ericsson's W880i. Codenamed the Sony Ericsson Ai, a succession of spyshots were leaked well before its official announcement, ensuring a lot of hype was generated around the new phone.

Everyone expected the W880i to be unveiled at CES 2007, but they were disappointed. Instead, Sony Ericsson released teaser photos of the W880i on January 9th, which at the time, seemed a bit odd. A day later, though, Steve Jobs dropped the iPhone onto the world, and killed CES stone dead. All talk of any other phone was completely overshadowed.

Sony Ericsson's strategy had worked, though...

Sony Ericsson's marketing genius

By giving us teaser shots the day before the iPhone's announcement, Sony Ericsson managed to gain visibility for the W880i just before the iPhone's shadow fell; and by only showing us teaser shots, rather than the photos of the whole phone, enough interest was maintained after the initial iPhone buzz had died down, that when Sony Ericsson finally announced the W880i on February 6th, a blizzard of readers hastily descended onto our W880i pages at MobileMentalism - the hype had done its work as intended.

And now, with the release of the iPhone just around the corner, Sony Ericsson are about to pull off another great feat of timing, with the announcement of a host of new phones on June 14th - just two weeks before the iPhone's official release.

Escaping the shadow of the iPhone

The iPhone will officially go on sale on June 29th, and I can confidently predict that no other mobile phone stories will even appear that day, let alone be read! Consequently, any new mobile phones that are scheduled to be released about now simply have to be announced before this date, or else the phones will be ignored as users everywhere eagerly await details of the iPhone.

Sony Ericsson know this, and so have scheduled a big event to show off their latest phones two weeks before the iPhone makes its inaugural appearance. The event will take place in Berlin on June 14th, and will feature "the latest phones, accessories and unique applications."

New Sony Ericsson phones

So what can we expect from Sony Ericsson? Well, the Sony Ericsson Sofia should make its debut. This will be a top of the line CyberShot phone, complete with 5 megapixel camera and a video capable of recording at 30 frames per second. It's rumoured to also come with a 16 million colour 2.4" Bravia-branded screen.

Another new Walkman phone should also make an appearance, though this is hardly news, as most of Sony Ericsson's line-up is branded Walkman these days. The Walkman phone should replace the existing W950i, so should again be fairly high spec.

With mutterings of discontent from even the Sony Ericsson faithful after a succession of phones that have been too similar to each other, Sony Ericsson need to produce some stunning phones if they're to keep the fans on board. Launching so close to the iPhone, the phones will inevitably draw comparison from Apple's new wonder-phone, and if they're to have any chance of success, they'll need some strong features to compete - particularly the Walkman phone, which will effectively be going to head to head with the iPhone.

We will, of course, provide you with all the details in just three days time. Can't wait!
[Source: Esato, JustAmp]