Sony Ericsson CEO: we should have taken the iPhone more seriously

Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg talked with the Wall Street Journal about the company's mobile phone strategy. During the interview, the CEO confirmed that Sony Ericsson should have taken the iPhone more seriously when it launched.

Nordberg doesn't elaborate on this comment, but it likely refers to the company's slow transition from a feature phone manufacturer with Symbian as its primary OS to a smartphone manufacturer that's placing all its eggs in the Android basket.

This move cost Sony Ericsson. Instead of being the leader of the pack, Sony Ericsson is losing precious market share. According to Gartner, Sony Ericsson had a 4.3% share of the global mobile phone market in Q3 2009 and dropped to a lowly 1.7% in the second quarter of 2011.

During that same period, Apple grew from an insignificant level in 2009 to 4.6% in Q2 2011. This is an astounding jump for a company that sells only the iPhone and not an entire lineup of smartphones and feature phones.

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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020340550457660…

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Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg talked with the Wall Street Journal about the company's mobile phone strategy. During the interview, the...

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sip

Sony Ericsson & Symbian: make believe

October 05 2011 at 8:56 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

David

In my opinion, SE phones had the best Symbian implementation and overall very good quality. I had about three or four of them and only one was a bad one (mostly in terms of hardware and reception).

October 03 2011 at 7:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Xinc288

Would have, could have, should have... all in hindsight now.

I rarely even notice Sony Ericsson products any more. What with all the Samsung, HTC, etc etc etc announcements every 2 weeks of a new phone release.

Interesting to see the majority of the Sony electronics empire had been so forward thinking, in its consumer product design & integration offerings; yet baffling to see their mobile strategy was so flawed, possibly complacent.

October 03 2011 at 4:46 PM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

Brian

I had a couple SE phones. They were the best at the time with a huge cult following. However, SE, screwed up long before the iPhone. Many US carriers dropped the best SE phones and people started jumping to Blackberry phones the RAZR and its offshoots. By the time that the iPhone arrived on the scene, SE was effectively a dead man walking.

October 03 2011 at 4:28 PM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down Reply

Nutmac

Andy? (of Conan O'Brien fame)

October 03 2011 at 4:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply