Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson will deliver its final quarterly report as a joint venture today, before pinning its hopes on the consumer clout of its new sole owner Sony who is set to launch a new lineup of mobile phones in a desperate effort to get back into the smartphone market.Sony, with US$85 billion in annual sales, announced in October that it would take full control of the joint venture, with Ericsson receiving A$1.3 billion for its 50 percent share.
At the recent CES show I got a first look at the new Sony smartphone offering and it is far from impressive with the biggest advantage being its Playstation compatibility.
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Leaks overnight have revealed that Sony is set to launch the Nypon, Pepper and Kumquat models at the World Mobile Congress in Europe next month.
High up in the range is the Nypon which was recently benchmarked according to NenaMark2, which showed the phone performing with a score of 24.50 compared to the 30.70 for the Xperia S.
The phone has a dual core 1GHz processor when brands like Motorola, Samsung and HTC are moving to quad core phones.
The new Sony Pepper which comes with a 3.7-inch, 854 x 480 resolution display and a single-core 1GHz only managed to score 47.80 in the test.
Like all Sony products the phones will not be cheap with the Sony Mint tipped to be over $750.
Analysts polled by Reuters saw Sony Ericsson making a pre-tax profit of $53 million in the fourth quarter, bringing its full-year earnings up to $45.8 million.
