Sony Ericsson Unveils New Music Phone; Wi-Fi Plays Central Role In Content Delivery

imageSony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC), which is struggling to keep up in the very competitive handset market, announced two new mobile-music products today — one of its signature Walkman phones and an accompanying wireless home audio system. Both of these products will likely only be available in the U.K., starting in the first quarter, but it’s a good example of how mobile continues to push into the music space. The two products were unveiled today at the MTV Europe Music Awards, where Sony Ericsson was a sponsor.

It will be interesting to see how the new W705 will be received. Sony Ericsson is clearly marketing it as an open device that provides the flexibility for the consumer to access content from Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow storefront, or via the Web, such as clips from YouTube. However, the one strange thing is that consumers will have to do all this over Wi-Fi, not the cellular network. There’s a trend beginning here with handset manufacturers making content available to the consumer over Wi-Fi, so that they don’t have to pencil out a business arrangement with the carrier…another recent example is Nokia’s Comes With Music service, which provides unlimited music downloads, but not directly to the phone. It is unknown if this approach will really work — it enables new services to go to market faster, but it really limits the convenience factor for the consumer.

Beyond that, the Walkman phone does have a number of high-end features, such as music recognition, SensMe, which matches your mood to the music, and Shake Control, which changes tracks with a flick of your wrist. It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera, which lets you upload pics directly to your social networking site (but only over Wi-Fi), and has a Web browser that let’s you view the screen either horizontally or vertically. The Wireless Home Audio System MBS-900, which will be sold separately at an undisclosed price, let’s users connect their phone to a speaker and stream music using Bluetooth. The phone acts as a remote control. The system also has a built-in radio. If the phone rings, the speakers will automatically mute.

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