Sony Ericsson says last year was about cameraphones, this year is about music

Remember what we said about 2005 being the year of the MP3 phone? Yeah, well Sony Ericsson has just issued a press release announcing that after focusing on cameraphones last year, this year they're going to be turning their attention to music. They don't get too specific—they'll get down and dirty at the 3GSM World Congress next week—but they are promising consumers "a new experience with the handsets." If they know what's good for them, they'll offer up a handset with dedicated music player control buttons, plenty of storage, good battery life, and native support for MP3 (and as many other formats as possible). The Sony-ness of Sony Ericsson makes us nervous, but we'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

[Via Reiter's Camera Phone Report]

[Chris K @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

If the music players are as horrible as the camera in my T637, I'd rather listen to AM radio.

Phone cameras have a long way to go to even meet low-end camera functionality. Especially with the typical poor ISO performance of small sensor and lack of decent flash units on cell phone cameras.

[Carmi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

I always recommend taking vendors' claims with more than a grain of salt. Sony Ericcsson declares that 2005 is "the year of..." because it gets them free publicity. Beyond this, it ultimately means nothing to those of us who consume these products and services.

The only authority capable of making such declarations is the collective consumer body. Those who buy ultimately determine how the year will play out. Vendors have precious little ability to drive demand. They simply respond to it.

The hype cycle, apparently, goes on.

Carmi Levy
http://writteninc.blogspot.com

[Oliver @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

Whatever happens, please, please, please, please don't let me see even a hint of WMA, Microsoft, PlaysForSure or Napster in these upcoming announcements. Get with the program SonyEricsson, announce your support for mobile iTunes and I will continue to be one of your happiest and most loyal customers.

[Supi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

There's no point for comparing T637 with real cameras - it's more than 3 years old cheap-o-tech.

SE seems to be rolling out at least this 2mpix auto focus follower for T610/620/630-series: http://mobile-review.com/news.php?language=en#news4173 (scroll down for "Sony Ericsson Clara or K750i...)

It's supposed to have also a mp3-player & memory stick. No special keys for player, though.

[Chris K @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

Sorry, I wasn't specifically talking about the T637 when I meant cameraphones have a long way to go. I meant ALL cameraphones have a long way to go.

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

I've had Sony Ericsson and Ericsson phones before that and have found them better than other brands personally. The one thing that will see me move away from them is when they start putting Memory Stick slots in their phones.
When will Sony get it... proprietry sucks!!! When my iPaq dies (the only thing I use it for now is playing music) I'll find a phone that can take the SD cards I've already bought.

[Gerhard Fasol @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

At least in Japan, mobile music started already a couple of years ago, and SONY-Ericsson was part of it already. Don't know why they pick 2005?

Gerhard

http://fasol.com/blog/

[john is not a girl @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

those mobile camera's qaulity is horrible, even it is a 5mb mobile camera, the qaulity is horrible, super noisely, blowout highlight, muddy color, blurrly image.

I would rather shoot with my trustly pentax k1000 which worth nothing, but can produce pre-press photo qaulity image.

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

My SE 910 is a great MP3 player, as well as phone, that allows me to watch movies, or read e-books, or surf the web, or plan my day, or take mediocre pictures, or view PDFs, or view Powerpoint presentations, or view images, or...

SE is on the right track.

GO SE!

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

My SE 910 is a great MP3 player, as well as phone, that allows me to watch movies, or read e-books, or surf the web, or plan my day, or take mediocre pictures, or view PDFs, or view Powerpoint presentations, or view images, or...

SE is on the right track.

GO SE!

[KevSlider @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

Great, I just got the T637 without MP3 capabilities. But it's a small price to pay for a great phone with all the features.

[Milo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

Phfff, Orange/Microsft have been doing this for the last 3 years, and mpg, avi, wmv, and integrates with Media player, secondly they all have .net framework installed.

[Stephen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:10AM]

Convergence is the key. Some phones already have a radio (why not more?). The first major vendor to give phones a removable SD card slot so we can take our images and music from place to place will have a home run. It can be done now... Sony will spur the competition.