Sony Ericsson confirms Android phone in development
Sony Ericsson has just announced it’s joined the Open Handset Alliance and will develop a new mobile phone based on the Google Android operating system. There had been rumours about this for some time, but now it’s official, and 2009 should see the introduction of a new Sony Ericsson Android phone.
“Sony Ericsson is excited to announce its membership of the Open Handset Alliance and confirm its intention to develop a handset based on the Android platform,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, CVP and head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson.
“We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance drawing on the successes of the Walkman and Cyber-shot sub-brands. Sony Ericsson is a strong supporter of open operating systems and we believe the Open Handset Alliance offers an exciting opportunity for a new and unique user experience only Sony Ericsson can deliver.”
Membership of the Open Handset Alliance will complement the company’s existing Open OS strategy which is based on the Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms.
That’s a lot of operating systems, though, which is sure to complicate the development process. At least one of those platforms will have to go, as it makes little commercial sense to support all three.
Samsung and Motorola are already developing Android phones, so with Sony Ericsson now on board as well, that leaves only Nokia and LG from the big five mobile phone manufacturers.
