Sony Ericsson, in an attempt to regain lost market share in the ever-competitive smartphone market, had a bevy of announcements in the day leading up to MWC. Along with the debut of three new devices, the company unveiled a new mobile content platform centered around user-generated content.
As the company puts it, Creations “focuses on facilitating the evolving needs of consumers, content publishers and developers, creating a community and a movement where they come together to personalize, share and continuously evolve and co-create mobile content. In other words, the company is building on the popularity of the “YouTube generation” to capitalize on user-generated content, getting away from the notion that most mobile content derives from big-name brands and publishers.
The new platform delivers on Sony Ericsson’s newly instituted Co-creation strategy by enabling mobile phone users to create and publish their own content such as video, audio and imaging to be shared, explored and remixed using content-creating mobile applications and tools. Content will no longer be static as Creations allows content creators to produce content on the move from their mobile phone.
Along with its “Creations” platform, Sony Ericsson also debuted three new devices; the new Vivaz Pro, Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro. The Vivaz Pro builds off the recently introduced flagship “Vivaz” smartphone the company announced in January, adding a QWERTY keyboard, a new touchscreen and the ability to produce and broadcast HD video. The Xperia X10 mini, along with its “pro” counterpart, bring smartphone-power in a compact shell, measuring smaller than a credit card.
It’s no secret that Sony Ericsson is going head-on with the smartphone-craze that’s hit nearly every other device maker in the recent past. The company has seemed to simply glide by with no major announcements or ground-breaking devices for quite some time. It’s obviously using MWC to let the industry know it means business in 2010. But, even with four major announcements before MWC even began, will it be enough to turn the attention needed back to Sony Ericsson? Doubtful.
