We love Sony. We really do. And we want them to get back in the game, because competition makes everyone better. Here’s how they do it.

Gartner just released its annual numbers for worldwide mobile phone sales to end users in the year known as two thousand nine. Looking at smartphone OS market share alone, Gartner shows the iPhone OS, Android, and RIM making the biggest gains (up 6.2%, 3.4%, and 3.3% from 2008, respectively) at the expense of Windows Mobile (down 3.1%) and Symbian (down 5.5%). Although Gartner says that Symbian “has become uncompetitive in recent years,” (ouch) it concedes that market share is still strong especially for Nokia; something backed up by Nokia’s Q4 financials and reported quarterly smartphone growth of 5% . Regarding total handsets of all classifications sold, Nokia continues to dominate with 36.4% of all sales to end users (a 2.2% loss from 2008) while Samsung and LG continue to climb at the expense of Motorola (dropping from 7.6% to 4.5% of worldwide sales in 2009) and Sony Ericsson. See that table after the break or hit up the source for the full report. Continue reading Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:05:00 EST

Okay, Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg , here’s the deal: if you’re going to spill the details of backroom discussions that never panned out, be sure the story at least makes you look good. Because this Nexus One ditty does not! Nordberg was speaking to Swedish publication Sydsvenskan when he confirmed that Google had first approached Sony Ericsson to be its Nexus One hardware partner, and that Sony Ericsson cold refused. Apparently Sony Ericsson would rather compete in the US exclusively with their own products. So let’s see how that turned out, shall we?

I bet the Walkman would have trended, if Twitter was around then. I bet even Betamax would have burbled to the surface. Hell, I bet the first Walkman phone would have trended, back in 2005. So just do… anything . [ SonyEricssonNA ]

AT&T, Orange, Telefónica, China Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and several more carriers have announced the formation of the Wholesale Applications Community , which aims to create a viable alternative to Apple’s walled-garden approach to apps. They’ll be joined on the hardware side by LG, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson as they attempt to create an open system for app development and distribution. What they lack in momentum they make up for in mass: combined, the alliance services more than three billion customers worldwide. There’s no question that apps are big business, especially for Apple , but to date it’s been largely limited to Apple and, to a lesser extent, the Android Market . The Wholesale Applications Community plans to initially use JIL and OMTP BONDI requirements to work towards a common standard within a year. Eventually, they hope to establish a common standard where apps can be ported across mobile platforms.

We’re kinda chuffed about Sony Ericsson’s showing this year at MWC, and between the three launched sets — Vivaz pro , X10 mini , and X10 mini pro — this little QWERTY stands out as the best of the bunch. The idea behind the X10 mini series, of course, is to have all the features and functionality of the larger X10 in a small package designed with one-handed use in mind. The keypad is surprisingly pleasant and not cramped (provided you aren’t equipped with baseball bat-sized fingers) as it looks and the key feedback is really great. The UI is generally snappy in most apps we saw, though we did see a bit of sluggishness while playing with the Timescape feature; with some months til launch, we can at least hope for some improvement there.

It kinda got buried beneath the X10 mini and mini pro , but Sony Ericsson went ahead and threw us a Symbian-flavored bone this evening with the Vivaz pro . The phone’s nearly a dead ringer for its non-pro doppelganger — the original Vivaz — but it adds a claimed 2 millimeters of thickness, which we found to be nearly imperceptible when you’re holding it or gazing in its direction. We’ll admit this is a better looking phone (along with the Vivaz) in person than we’d figured from the press shots, but we’re still not sure we’d buy in — the UI feels a little bit like a warmed-over S60 5th Edition , unlike the X10’s thorough reworking of Android. If anything, this could very well be an N97 mini killer, especially considering the keyboard’s decency — just check out that centered spacebar! Enjoy a few more shots of the phone in Sony Ericsson’s ridiculously under-lit venue (it’s a nightclub, in case you couldn’t tell) below. Gallery: Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro hands-on Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

Fresh from the Mobile World Congress, here’s the latest on Sony Ericsson ’s brand new Vivaz Pro , including white hot rear shots! The phone is an update on the Vivaz line, adding a QWERTY slide-out keypad, 720p video recording, and a 720Mhz processor. The 3.2-inch screen has touch, and the aforementioned video-capable cam boasts 8.2 megapixels. SE says the phone, even with the keyboard, is “ultra-thin,” with dimensions that are “almost” as thin as the original Vivaz handset. SE claims there’s only 2mm’s difference between the two. Release date is a tentative Q2 2010

The X10 was Sony Ericsson ’s first Android phone and had really decent specs, yet failed to impress us . Dumbing it down and adding a “Mini” and “Mini Pro” tag doesn’t sound too promising. They’re both on sale in the second quarter of 2010, and run Android 1.6, with a 2.6-inch touchscreen and 5.0-megapixel camera and 600MHz processors. You may be wondering what separates the Mini from the Mini Pro, considering they’re both very similar sounding so far. It’s just the addition of a slide-out QWERTY on the Mini Pro—and some extra colors for the Mini.

While we patiently wait for the X10 to make its way into retail channels (or, you know, give up and buy something else instead), mobile-review’s Eldar Murtazin has come through once again with one of his world-famous eleventy billion page previews rife with thousands of screenshots, which should take you long enough to skim through so that the phone’s available by the time you’re done. Thing is, you may not want it anymore: Eldar’s concerned by the phone’s cheap plastic shell, which is particularly alarming in light of the direction competitors are going , and the screen could apparently be better. Add in the fact that it’ll be launching with Android 1.6 and there’s no question Sony Ericsson’s first Android effort is going to face an uphill battle — let’s just hope they learn from the complaints and get an updated Android build rolled out on the double. [Thanks, Alex] Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 exhaustedly previewed, screenshotted to death originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink