Sony Ericsson confirms Android handset is on the way

By Nick Mansell on Tue 09 December 2008

Hot on the heals of today's announcement from the Open Handset Alliance, Sony Ericsson has confirmed it is working on an Android handset.

The head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson, Rikko Sakaguchi, said in a statement, "Sony Ericsson is excited to announce its membership of the Open Handset Alliance and confirm its intention to develop a handset based on the Android platform." Click on for more.

The statement hints at a "consumer focuses multimedia handset", drawing on both its camera-centric Cybershot and music-focused Walkman brands.

After the disappointment of the Xperia X1, we're hoping this could be the Sony Ericsson handset to really give the iPhone a run for its money.

And in case you were wondering, this isn't a sign that Sony Ericsson's abandoning its other smartphone platforms. Instead it says Android will, "complement" its Symbian and Windows Mobile offerings.

No word on when we might see an actual phone, but for now we'll make do with the news that one - or possibly even more than one - will be on the way, sometime.

Press release:

Sony Ericsson joins Open Handset Alliance
 
Sony Ericsson extends portfolio strategy to include support for Open Handset Alliance
 
London, December 9 2008 – Sony Ericsson today announced the extension of its portfolio strategy to include support for the Open Handset Alliance
 
“Sony Ericsson is excited to announce its membership of the Open Handset Alliance and confirm its intention to develop a handset based on the Android platform,” said Rikko Sakaguchi, CVP and head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson. “We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance drawing on the successes of the Walkman and Cyber-shot sub-brands. Sony Ericsson is a strong supporter of open operating systems and we believe the Open Handset Alliance offers an exciting opportunity for a new and unique user experience only Sony Ericsson can deliver.”
 
Membership of the Open Handset Alliance will complement the company’s existing Open OS strategy which is based on the Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms.  
 
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