Sony Mobile's focus sharper now

Dubai Sony Mobile Communications, formerly known as Sony Ericsson, is no longer burdened with two owners and seeks to roll out newer mobile devices fast, leveraging the vast music and video library of Sony Entertainment, said a top official. The Japanese consumer electronics giant took full control of the Sony Ericsson joint venture by purchasing Ericsson's 50 per cent stake in the company and withdrawing itself from the decade-old partnership with the Swedish company on February 16, last year. "Sony Mobile right now has no issue of dealing with two parents and we are able to make faster decisions and take less time to get new handsets on to the market. We can quickly align focus and execute, and we are able to call the shots," Rudiger Odenbach, vice-president, customer unit, Middle East and Africa, Sony Mobile, told Gulf News on the sidelines of the press conference after unveiling the Xperia S handset in the region. As often cited, the headwinds facing smaller makers of Android-based devices is the lack of differentiation between brands, given that the devices all run the same operating system. Regarding this, he said in bid to stand out, Sony Mobile plans to integrate all its Sony products whether it is a TV, tablet, laptops or phones. The phone, branded under its NXT (next-generation) series, is a 4.3-inch (720 by 1280 pixels resolution) model with 1.5Ghz dual-core processor and 12MP Exmor sensor camera. It runs on Android (Gingerbread) operating system. The recently unveiled Xperia P and U models at the Mobile World Congress lack Google's most modern software (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich), and run Gingerbread instead. From gulfnews