RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The Sony Ericsson joint venture, which has a major presence in Research Triangle Park, N.C., received a dose of good news on Thursday.
At Ericsson’s headquarters in Sweden, Chief Executive Officer Per Nordlof said the firm would work closely with Sony to develop mobile TV and other media solutions. Nordlof predicted a third of mobile phone users would be dialing in to TV shows by 2008.
Also on Thursday, Ericsson landed a mobile TV development deal with a Belgian telecommunications provider.
Many developments are in the works, according to Nigel Wright at Earthtimes.org: “A number of solutions are under development based on the Digital Living Network Alliance, a cross industry standard for sharing content across a home network. Systems allowing friends and family to share film footage and pictures between a handset and a regular television at the press of a button, were demonstrated. The two companies think such solutions will soon be part of everyday living. Nordlof went on to say that he expects similar appliances and applications to hit markets as early as late 2007.”
The strategy comes just days after the release of the new James Bond film “Casino Royal” in which the new Bond portrayed by Daniel Craig carries Sony Ericsson model K790 and K800 Cyber-shot phones.
Ericsson and Sony had a joint press briefing in Stockholm. Their current joint venture has brought cellular phone headsets to market equipped with a variety of music and entertainment options generally found on Sony Walkman devices.
The partnership is in its fifth year.
Sony Ericsson shipped nearly 20 million handsets in the third quarter, a spectacular 43 percent increase over 2005. The company is aiming for 8 percent market share — or an increase from 7 percent in the third quarter alone – of the global handset in 2006, which is estimated to be 950 million units.
