Sony Ericsson X1/X2

Frbiz.com, one of China's leading B2B searchfrom alternative sources, but Ericsson's position
platforms with more than 30 B2B industrywas much worse as production of current models
websites to its name, evaluates the Sonyand the launch of new ones was held up.
Ericsson X1/X2.Ericsson, which had been in the cellular phone
In appearance, the X2's body has curved designmarket for decades, and was the world's no. 3
with a 3.2-inch screen, compared to the X1'scellular telephone handset maker, was struggling
3.0-inch screen. Both screen resolutions arewith huge losses -- in spite of booming sales since
maintained at 480 * 800 pixels and support2000 -- due to this fire, and its inability to produce
handwriting and touch-control. The X2 is morecheaper phones like Nokia. To curtail the losses, it
convenient to operate because of its 3.2-inchconsidered outsourcing production to Asian
screen.companies that can produce the handset for
Not only is the X2's 3.2-inch screen bigger thanlower costs.
the X1's, it is also wider at 1.4mm. The SonySpeculation began about a possible sale by
Ericsson X1 uses metal material, while the X2Ericsson of its mobile phone division, but the
front body uses a high-polished plastic material.company's president said they had no plans to do
Also the back uses metal and joins the concavethat. "Mobile phones are really a core business for
design, which, compared to the X1, has a betterEricsson. We wouldn't be as successful (in
feeling in hand. However, the positive application ofnetworks) if we didn't have phones", he said.
polishing material on the X2 prevents seriousBackground of the joint venture
fingerprinting.Sony was a marginal player in the worldwide cell
Sony Ericsson is a joint venture established onphone market with a share of less than 1 percent
October 1, 2001[1] by the Japanese consumerin 2000. Despite sustaining losses in this area, it
electronics company Sony Corporation and thewanted to focus on it more. In April 2001, Sony
Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson toconfirmed that it was in talks with Ericsson for a
make mobile phones. The stated reason for thispossible collaboration in the handset business. This
venture is to combine Sony's consumerwas soon after Toshiba and Siemens had
electronics expertise with Ericsson's technologicalannounced plans in November 2000 to work
leadership in the communications sector. Bothtogether on handsets for 3G mobile networks,
companies have stopped making their own mobilewhich was cancelled in 2001.
phones.By August 2001, the two companies had finalized
The company's global management is based inthe terms of the merger announced in April. The
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham,company was to have an initial workforce of
and it has research & development teams in3,500 employees.
Sweden, Japan, China, Germany, the UnitedEarly troubles
States, India and the United Kingdom. By 2009, itIn spite of having aimed to be profitable in its
was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturervery first year, Ericsson's market share actually
in the world after Nokia, Samsung and LG[3] Thefell and in August 2002, Ericsson said it would stop
sales of products largely increased due to themaking mobile phones and end its partnership with
launch of the adaptation of Sony's popularSony if the business continues to disappoint even
Walkman and Cyber-shot series.as Sony said it was fully committed to the joint
The Sony Ericsson X2 and X1 are equipped withventure and wanted to make it a success.
the same 1500mAh Li-ion battery, the twoHowever, in January 2003, both companies said
phones have the same hardware configurations,they would inject more money into the joint
and their standby times are also very close: halfventure in a bid to stem the losses.
an hour calls, 10 SMS sending and receiving, 1 hourSony Ericsson's strategy was to release new
of music and 2 hours of other operations. Themodels capable of digital photography as well as
charge can last 2 days, so performance is stillother multimedia capabilities such as downloading
acceptable.and viewing video clips and personal information
Troubles in Ericsson's mobile phone businessmanagement capabilities. To this end, it released
In the United States, Ericsson partnered withseveral new models which had built-in digital
General Electric in the early nineties, primarily tocamera and color screen which were novelties at
establish a US presence and brand recognition.that time. The high-end P800 which featured a
Ericsson had decided to obtain chips for its phonesbuilt-in camera and PDA attributes was successful
from a single source -- a Philips facility in Newand helped in turning around. The joint venture,
Mexico. In March 2000, a fire at the Philips factoryhowever, continued to make bigger losses in spite
contaminated the sterile facility. Philips assuredof booming sales. Thus, it kept postponing its
Ericsson and Nokia (their other major customer)target date for making a profit from its first year
that production would be delayed for no moreto 2002 to 2003 to second half of 2003.
than a week. When it became clear thatIt even failed in its mission of becoming the top
production would actually be compromised forseller of multimedia handsets and was in
months, Ericsson was faced with a seriousfifth-place and struggling in 2003.
shortage. Nokia had already begun to obtain parts