Sony Ericsson 'not abandoning' biz handsets

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Sony Ericsson today unveiled three new consumer-focused handsets, but it was keen to stress that the business market is still a priority and teased users with talk of an X1 follow up later this year.

The Aino, Satio (previously named Idou) and Yari, were all launched today, as part of the company’s new vision of communication and entertainment intertwined.

All have a fairly stylish design and individual features set, such as remote music and video access, a 12.1 megapixel camera and gesture gaming.

The Satio will run Symbian S60 version 5, while its two new stable mates will be based on Sony Ericsson’s proprietary operating system.

“We’re taking all of the things we’ve become famous for and taking a big step beyond,” Sony Ericsson claimed during a press conference to mark the new launches. “A big step beyond where we’ve been before, where our customers have been before, and where are competitors are.”

While the launch was focused on the new handsets, which will all be available in the fourth quarter of this year, it raised questions from attendees about where the announcements leave its Cybershot and Walkman brands and its business device agenda.

“We are not abandoning that segment at all. We have the X1 and we have another phone coming out later in the year to specifically address that target segment,” said Nathan Vautier, managing director of Sony Ericsson UK.

Another Sony Ericsson spokesman added: “[We’ve got] a number of products that are targeted at this space coming out in the future.”

Vautier was also challenged once again about Sony Ericsson’s intentions for the business market by a question stressing the importance of common platforms for IT departments to manage.

The company’s X1 smartphone was referenced both in the question and Vautier’s speedy answer. “The X1 is a Microsoft product,” he said. "We’re obviously looking at future products and using that platform too... Watch this space.”

Click here to read our feature on what’s happened to Sony Ericsson.

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