Hasta La Gadget!

Bad news, good news, and potentially great news time, folks. First with the bad: Sony Ericsson posted another loss for its fiscal third quarter, to the tune of 164 million euro (about $244 million US), blaming a large chunk of that on a drop in sales. Sales dropped year-over-year 40 percent to 1.6 billion euro, and unit shipments comparably down 45 percent. That’s the bad, now what’s good for SE is that its secured more financial backing to reshape its future into something more profitable. External financing totals a reported 455 million euro ($676 million US), 255 million of which is already in the company’s position and 200 million as a two-year backup. SE also managed to beat analyst estimates, losing less than anticipated, and that’s gotta induce some bittersweet smiles in the corporate boardrooms… oh, the potentially great news? Well, SEMC blog has boldly announced that the Android-imbued Rachael (a.k.a. XPERIA X3) is due out this November, same specs as we heard before and two color options, Sensuous Black and Luster White. Unfortunately, we’re not seeing exactly where this news is coming for, so until SE speaks the magic words, we’re considering it a rumor for now — but we’re hopeful.

[Via GSM Arena; thanks, Gillz and Christo]

Read – Rachael in November?
Read – Sony Ericsson 3Q loss widens
Read – XPERIA X3 in the wild

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson Q3 slump buoyed by new financing, a rumored November launch for XPERIA X3 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news for Canadians who can’t seem to get a decent internet plan for home. Rogers has unveiled a 3G station for residential use dubbed the Rocket Hub, and with it a number of jet propulsion-related puns that we’ll be taking painstaking measures to avoid. It boasts 7.2Mbps HSPA, WiFi and ethernet out, and voice calls over UMTS. Makes sense since it’s riding an Ericsson W3x core. The Upfront cost of hardware hasn’t been disclosed yet, but plans start at $35 Canadian. Launch date (okay, we couldn’t resist) is sometime later this month.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

Rogers’ Rocket Hub disguises 3G data and voice as mild-mannered home modem originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s out with the old, in with the new over at Sony Ericsson as it tries to revamp both its image and its lineup in the face of stiff competition, weak financials, and an unfocused platform strategy. President Hideki Komiyama (pictured left) intends to retire at the end of the year, and stepping up to fill his shoes will be the current head of Ericsson Silicon Valley, Bert Nordberg (right). To get the dude up to speed, he’ll become co-president as of September 1 and take over sole control of the operation on October 15. Speaking of October 15, that’s also the date that Sir Howard Stringer — yes, the one and only chairman and CEO of Sony — will take over the chairmanship of Sony Ericsson’s executive board from outgoing Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg. Whether this signals a power shift in the joint venture from Ericsson to Sony is unclear, but they’ve specifically mentioned in a press conference today to announce the moves that they need to “address [their] smartphone weakness” — and yes, we’d agree. Do exactly that, Bert Nordberg.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson selects next president, appoints Howard Stringer chairman of the board originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve yet to see a Satio or XPERIA X2 or X3 at retail, but it looks like Sony Ericsson have yet another full touch phone in the works as it tries to revitalize and reinvent itself with a renewed focus on Android, Symbian Foundation, and Windows Mobile for its smartphone lineup. What we’re looking at here is claimed to be a spy shot of the Jalou — that’s a retail name, not a codename, by the way — which is said to run S60 5th Edition (just like the Satio) with WiFi, GPS, and some form of HSDPA on board. The Sony Ericsson fan base is pretty notorious for crafting beautiful, very believable concept devices using nothing more than Illustrator and an overactive imagination, so we’d urge caution here — but other than a display that seems to have been blacked out, it all seems believable enough. The bigger question might be whether the world’s ready for two Symbian-based touchscreen smartphones from Sony Ericsson in the next few months.

Update: Yep, sure enough, that “notorious fan base” we just mentioned came out swinging with this one, a heavily-modified concept based on the W995. In other words, if the Jalou exists, this isn’t it. Thanks, synn!

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson ‘Jalou’ next in company’s Symbian lineup? (Update: maybe, but this isn’t it) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t take the word of just any retailer at face value, but when a big player like eXpansys decides that it’s time to list a new phone in its inventory, that usually means something’s afoot. The company’s British outpost has now listed full details for a phone it’s identifying simply as “Xperia” in its headline, but if you read further in, you’ll see that the product code is “SEMXP3_BLK_UK”, suggesting X3 is the likely moniker for Rachael. For your hard-earned (but yet-to-be-determined) money, you’ll get pretty much everything you could possibly want, spec-wise: 10Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA, 8 megapixel cam with image stabilization and LED flash, 3.5mm headphone jack, a 4-inch 800 x 400 display (a first at this resolution for a production Android device), AGPS, and microSDHC expansion. Sadly, it’s listed as 900 / 2100 only for the 3G radio, so we’ll need to rely on the telecommunication gods (and Sony Ericsson, we suppose) to deliver a North American version as well.

[Via Slashgear and the::unwired]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson’s Android-powered XPERIA X3 sorta confirmed by way of retailer originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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