Sony Ericsson unveils Walkman and PlayNow plans

Three new phones and a converged services platform in the pipeline

Written by Ian Williams

Sony Ericsson has laid out its plans for the remainder of 2007 and early 2008, unveiling three new handsets and offering a first glimpse of its PlayNow services platform.

The mobile phone giant will add two Walkman phones to its portfolio, the W890 and W380.

The W890 is a slim candybar-style design with 2GB of storage and a 3.2 megapixel camera as well as all the usual entertainment features found in Sony Ericsson's Walkman-branded phones.

The W380 sees a departure from the standard by using a clamshell design with an OLED external display to show the name of a music track or caller information.

The handset also includes a gesture control feature which allows users to mute calls with a wave of the hand.

Sony Ericsson also unveiled its K660 phone aimed at users who require access to data and the internet while on the move.

The K660 is optimised for mobile web access with HSDPA support as well as landscape browsing.

Several shortcut keys, including pan-and-zoom, home page, enter address and bookmark, are designed to help improve the mobile web experience.

The phone's navigation key serves as a 'magnetic mouse pointer' when in web mode, helping users to navigate web pages more easily.

All three phones are due in selected markets around the world from the first quarter of 2008.

Sony Ericsson also announced its intention to further develop the PlayNow arena in a bid to offer a range of new free and paid-for mobile entertainment and content.

The platform was launched in February 2004 allowing users to listen to and purchase polyphonic ring-tones directly on their phone.

The service was expanded over time and is now available in 32 countries around the world, offering MP3 ring-tones, games, full music tracks, themes and wallpapers.

Sony Ericsson has promised that the next generation of PlayNow will allow consumers to access a greatly expanded range of content, and that relevant material will be easier to find.

As part of this drive the company will combine its music catalogue with its TrackID service which allows users to record a music clip from any source which will then be identified.

By combining these features, users will be able to purchase the tracks or albums directly from the PlayNow store.

Rollout of the enhanced PlayNow service will start in the second quarter of 2008.

Tags:

Further reading

Nokia and Vodafone seal 3G services deal

Some Nokia handsets to be exclusive to Vodafone under deal   More...

8,500 mobile devices lost every year at UK airports

Potential hotspot for data thieves, warns security firm   More...

Will the iPhone lose its Edge in the UK?

Analyst downplays impact of broadband system   More...

UK texts top a billion a week

SMS technology appeals to all levels of society   More...

Related articles

Premium mobile content market takes off

Ring-tone, music, video and games sales jump 20 per cent   More...

Nokia adds 8GB to the N95

Bigger screen, more storage and a free movie   More...

Do you agree?

Advertisement

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Advertisement

Watch

16 May 2008

2.97 MBXP on OLPC, broken dreams and Yahoo fights back More...

15 May 2008

3.28 MBDark fibre, mobile TV and solar power More...

14 May 2008

2.66 MBOnline inequality, mobile thumbprints and corporate raids More...

Poll

HOME WORKING

HOME WORKING

Do you let any or all of your employees work from home?

Previous poll results

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Spotlight

OLPC

OLPC to ship with Windows XP

Microsoft teams up with One Laptop per Child project   More...

The Sims

The Sims goes flat-pack with Ikea

Virtual world gets Swedish wood   More...

Advertisement

Microsoft-Yahoo

Yahoo board fights back at Icahn

Investor accused of 'significant misunderstanding' in Microsoft saga   More...

MySpace

Woman charged over MySpace suicide

Lori Drew indicted on federal charges   More...

Advertisement