Sony banks on Walkman phone in iPod battle
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20 Jul 2005, Robert Jaques , V3
Sony is betting on its newly launched Walkman phone to crack the worldwide domination of Apple's iconic iPod.
The electronics giant has claimed a limited victory after beating Apple into second place as the top seller of memory-type music players for May and June, but only in the Japanese market.
In the UK Orange has announced that it will be the first to sell Sony Ericsson's new Walkman phone, the W800i, with a high-profile launch at midnight on 12 August in London's Oxford Street.
The orange coloured handset will be available free to Orange customers on selected service plans and will be configured for all Orange services.
But a study of digital music devices by TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence has found that 140 million adult Americans have not heard of the Walkman phone.
"Sony has still not got the word out about its Walkman phone," said Constantine Kambanis, an analyst at TechnoMetrica.
"Our findings suggest that the Walkman phone is poorly positioned for a head-to-head match against Apple's iPod or Dell's Digital Jukebox. It has a weak showing among the consumer groups that propelled the iPod to superstardom."
According to the report, typical iPod buyers are young people with a college education and relatively high household incomes.
And, worryingly for Sony, Apple appears to have greater momentum. The research estimated that 32 million adult Americans are planning to buy an iPod within the next 12 months.
Sony will also be hoping for better product reviews: an article on gadget blog Gizmodo is unlikely to motivate new buyers.
"Sony Ericsson continues to make nice looking phones that I have no desire to own. The Walkman is nice enough looking, but the music application didn't seem very advanced at all," said the blog entry.
"I'm happy to give it another shot in the future, but I was hoping to get something that seemed more advanced than the average media player application you can find on almost any modern phone."
© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2010, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093
Do you agree?
No Good For Travel
I purchased my ipod in order to relieve the boredom whilst travelling. I have the new k750i phone, which is quite impressive, and I may have gone for the k800i if I had known that it was coming, but it cannot replace my ipod which gives me 13 hours continuous play without recharging and i can use it safely on the airoplane. Can you use the media playing functionality on the K800 without it transmitting telephony signals? I doubt it!
Posted by SoApY, 21 Jul 2005
Sony phones suck
Sony phones have the worst interface ever!
-->PHONES with no dedicated "call" or "hangup" button, but a dedicated "delete" button - what were you thinking
Posted by Sanjeeve, 21 Jul 2005
It is actually the w800i...
It is actually the w800i and you can turn off GSM functionality so you can listen to music while travelling.
I just took ownership of mine 3days ago and its GREAT! Oh and by the way SE claim 30 hours constant playing in music mode.
Posted by Steevo, 06 Sep 2005
music on ipod and sony w800i
whatever be said about ipods my impression about them
" satisfactory".nothing great or nothing mind blowing.today in the arena of quality of sound and depth in bass, in music no one can beat sony.and that goes for w800i.a classic performer in the line of other sony portable music devices.a phone a camera and sensational sound in music all bundled into one.with very minor passable faults the w800i is a masterpiece of miniature technology.today i am enjoying my music better than i have with an ipod which i incidently i dont own anymore.
Posted by nath, 19 Dec 2005