Sony Ericsson sticking with Android smartphones, says CEO

Sony Ericsson President and CEO, Bert Nordberg had an interesting chat with the Wall Street Journal regarding Sony Ericsson’s foothold in the smartphone market, as well as roadmap for the near future. He strongly believes that adopting Android for their high-end smartphones was the best decision they made so far considering the rate at which the platform is progressing. He also admits that the company “should have taken the iPhone more seriously when it arrived in 2007″. So for now, Sony Ericsson is sticking by Android for any/all new mid-range or high-end phones that the company launches. Nordberg also went on to state that he intends to gradually do away with feature phones, altogether and turn Sony Ericsson into a 100 percent smartphone company. Based on their current roadmap, he estimates this taking shape in the middle of next year. When asked if the company would consider switching to WP7 platform, he replied, “At this point I wouldn’t feel comfortable investing in a platform that isn’t as good as the one that we currently use. Therefore we have remained with Android, but I am quite curious about Windows Phone.”

What the future holds?

Personally, we couldn’t agree more with Nordberg’s decision. If you take a quick look back at Sony Ericsson’s track record, they were a big player at a time when feature phones were all the rage and their Walkman series were selling like hotcakes. Once Android came in, companies like Samsung, HTC and Motorola immediately jumped onboard, which is why they are at the forefront today. Sony Ericsson tried dabbling with Symbian, as well (remember the Vivaz Pro?) but obviously that didn’t work out too well. We understand why they are a bit hesitant to adopt WP7, right now as it’s not really progressing as fast as Android. Their decision to drop feature phones all together could work in their favour given that 70% of their sales are from smartphones today. With Samsung, HTC and Motorola already having established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the smartphone business, their future depends on the choice of handsets and more importantly, competitive pricing.