Sony Ericsson says no to Windows Phone 7 and tablets

Don’t expect Sony Ericsson to roll out any tablets or Windows Phone 7 devices anytime soon, according to Sony Ericsson France CEO Pierre Perron, who recently spoke to the French newspaper Les Echos.

The news is a snub against Microsoft by the world’s fourth-largest phone manufacturer, and a potential sign that tablets are becoming overplayed.

Perron confirmed that the company is in talks with Microsoft about creating Windows Phone 7 devices in the future, but he said that it’s unlikely that Sony Ericsson would adopt the platform due to Microsoft’s strict hardware specifications and software limits.

Such a move would “run the risk of standardizing our smartphones” he said, and he added that the company wouldn’t want to compete based on price and design alone.

As for tablets, Perron seemed to dismiss the idea entirely, saying that Sony Ericsson didn’t want to be the 24th company to roll one out. Given how much reports of Android tablets are beginning to blur together, I don’t blame Perron for being somewhat negative. Then again, the fact that Sony Ericsson has nothing new to contribute with tablets is also telling — what was stopping the company from beating out the Android competition with a tablet?

The news follows rumors from last week that Sony Ericsson was readying Windows phones for early next year. The company launched its first Android smartphone in the US, the Xperia X10, after a string of delays in August. Right now, the company would be better off focusing its efforts on more Android phones, instead of trying to deal with an entirely new platform.

Of course, anything Perron says right now is subject to change. And since he’s a regional executive, the news also has less weight than if it came straight from Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg.

Via SlashGear

  • Crowd_Sorcerer

    It makes sense for Sony Ericsson to stay out of these markets (for the time being).In the case of operating systems vendors, being late to the party can be catastrophic, when the competition has built an unassailable lead. However, it's a different situation for OEMs.Sony Ericsson (or for that matter, Nokia), can join an OS platform late, and still make a product comparable (or even better) than the competition. It may even be advantageous for Sony Ericsson to wait out on tablets, as Android isn't quite tablet ready, and nobody else has a tablet-ready OS (apart from Apple, which isn't sharing it). If the tablet market becomes bigger, Sony Ericsson can enter it later, without soiling its reputation with an early but immature product.As for Sony Ericsson joining the Windows Phone 7 bandwagon, why would they? No doubt Microsoft would be offering carrots and sticks… a carrot being that Microsoft would pay for all the engineering R&D, the stick being an Android lawsuit. The problem is, everyone knows that Windows Phone 7 sales in the US have been lackluster.

  • http://cellphonetrackers.org Cell phone tracker

    Anyway they are to roll out a Windows phone 7 cell phone, as for the tablet, I do not care much, I think Sumsang Android tablet is very good.

  • http://www.latesttechnology-2.info/new/sony-ericsson-2011-windows-phone/sony-ericsson-2010-windows-phone Sony Ericsson 2010 Windows Phone – LATEST MOBILE PHONES–PRICES-FEATURES – LATEST MOBILE PHONES–PRICES-FEATURES

    [...] Ericsson France CEO Pierre Perron, who recently spoke to the French newspaper Les Echos. …http://venturebeat.com/2010/11 .. Share and [...]

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