Misplaced Pages

#95904

72-450: Hi-MD has several Walkman-selectable audio recording codecs, in order of quality: PCM, Hi-SP, and Hi-LP. Hi-MD Walkmans are backward compatible with MiniDisc playback and most can record. Hi-MD can store computer files and audio data. A bus-powered Hi-MD Walkman is seen as standard USB Mass Storage device with a FAT filesystem. Since the release of Sony's music management program, SonicStage 3.4, virtually all digital rights management

144-679: A 2 megapixel camera, as well as its platform mate, the W800i , the first of the Walkman phones capable of 30 hours of music playback. Later in October 2005, Sony Ericsson presented the first mobile phone based on UIQ 3, the P990 . Also in 2005, Sony Ericsson agreed to become the global title sponsor for the WTA Tour in a deal worth $ 88 million US dollars over 6 years. The women's pro tennis circuit

216-657: A 9 percent global mobile phone market share making it the fourth largest vendor at the time. In 2017, Sony Mobile held less than 1% global market share but 4.8% in Europe and 16.3% in Japan. Swedish company Ericsson had been making mobile cell phones since the 1980s, their first very handheld device being the Hotline Pocket introduced in 1987. In the United States, Ericsson partnered with General Electric in

288-574: A Sony Ericsson Windows Phone device called "Jolie" for 2011. A prototype exists and was leaked on the internet in 2011, but no Windows Phone device was ever released. There was also a line of BRAVIA -branded clamshell smartphones that were released for the Japanese market between 2007 and 2010. Since 2012 all products by Sony Mobile have been in the Xperia range and running the Android OS -

360-545: A Walkman in bags or pockets. In October 1985, the WM-101 model was the first in its class with a "gum stick" rechargeable battery. In 1986 Sony presented the first model outfitted with remote control, as well as one with solar battery (WM-F107). Within a decade of launch, Sony held a 50% market share in the United States and 46% in Japan. Two limited edition 10th anniversary models were released in 1989 (WM-701S/T) in Japan, made of brass and plated in sterling silver . Only

432-455: A cloud service to support its expansion into the cloud gaming realm. Sony paid a reported $ 380 million to acquire Gaikai . The Sony Ericsson Liquid Energy Logo, which was the hallmark logo used on Sony Mobile products up until the 2012 series of phones, was replaced with a new power button designed as the new signature hallmark to easily identify a Sony phone and this debuted with the 2013 series of Xperia mobile phones. The last phones to feature

504-644: A core business for Ericsson. We wouldn't be as successful (in networks) if we didn't have phones". Sony was a marginal player in the worldwide mobile phone market with a share of less than 1 percent in 2000. By August 2001, the two companies had finalised the terms of the merger announced in April. Ericsson contributed a majority of the Ericsson Mobile Communications company, excluding a minor part spun off as Ericsson Mobile Platforms . Sony contributed its entire handset division. The company

576-485: A few hundred were built of each. A 15th anniversary model was also made on July 1, 1994, with vertical loading, and a 20th anniversary on July 1, 1999, with a prestige model. By 1989, 10 years after the launch of the first model, over 100 million Walkmans had been sold worldwide. 150 million units were manufactured by 1995. By 1999, 20 years after the introduction of the first model, Sony sold 186 million cassette Walkmans. Portable compact disc players led to

648-446: A person as they were walking. In the 1970s, Brazilian inventor Andreas Pavel devised a method for carrying a player of this type on a belt around the waist, listening via headphones , but his " Stereobelt " concept did not include the required engineering advancements to yield high-quality sound reproduction while the tape player was subject to mechanical shock as would be expected on a person walking. Pavel later lost his suit claiming

720-620: A press conference held with India's communications minister Dayanidhi Maran in Chennai that India was one of the fastest growing markets in the world and a priority market for Sony Ericsson with 105 million users of GSM mobile telephones. Sony Ericsson's handset shipments fell from a high of 30.8m in Q4 1999 to only 8.1m in Q1 2003. The company had made net losses in six of the 15 quarters and seen its cash reserves shrink from €2.2bn to €599m, after taking

792-446: A week. When it became clear that production would actually be compromised for months, Ericsson was faced with a serious shortage. Nokia had already begun to obtain parts from alternative sources, but Ericsson's position was much worse as production of current models and the launch of new ones was held up. Ericsson, which had been in the mobile phone market for decades, and was the world's third largest cellular telephone handset maker at

SECTION 10

#1732780762096

864-707: A €375m cash injection from its joint owners. The eclipse of the Symbian operating system, initially by Apple's iPhone, and then by Google 's Android , has affected Sony Ericsson's position in the market. The company also struggled following the launch of Apple's iPhone in the third quarter of 2007. Sony Ericsson was overtaken by its South Korean rival LG Electronics in Q1 2008. Sony Ericsson's company's profits fell significantly by 43% to €133 million (approx. US$ 180 million), sales falling by 8% and market share falling from 9.4% to 7.9%, despite favourable conditions that

936-558: Is placed instead of a heart meaning "love". This would then be followed by words, initially simple ones such as "music" or "photography" and later by for instance "my hip hop loud" or "life captured". The branding was designed by the Wolff Olins consultancy. The campaign lasted until 2009 when it was replaced by multicoloured Sony Ericsson icons using Sony's slogan "make.believe". During 2010, in 11 months, Sony Ericsson's Facebook fan count rose from 300,000 to 4 million to become

1008-717: Is the WM1ZM2 player. Walkman cassette players were very popular during the 1980s, which led to "walkman" becoming an genericized label term for personal compact stereos of any producer or brand. 220 million cassette-type Walkmen were sold by the end of production in 2010; including digital Walkman devices such as DAT , MiniDisc , CD (originally Discman then renamed the CD ;Walkman) and memory-type media players , it has sold approximately 400 million at this time. The Walkman brand has also been applied to transistor radios , and Sony Ericsson mobile phones. In March 1979, at

1080-582: The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show , Sony's Kaz Hirai announced that Sony Ericsson would be known simply as Sony Mobile Communications pending completion of the transaction. On January 26, 2012, the European Union approved the buyout. On February 16, 2012, Sony announced it had completed the full acquisition of Sony Ericsson. On January 7, 2013, Sony Mobile completed moving its headquarters from Lund , Sweden to Tokyo , Japan in order to fully integrate with its parent company. The first Sony-only mobile

1152-522: The Aaton Cantar , the Zaxcom Deva, and similar units from Fostex and Sound Devices . The MZ-M200 Walkman is Sony's MZ-RH1 with a stereo microphone included. The MZ-RH1 was targeted to a more general customer on Sony's consumer electronics sites and comes with no microphone bundle. The microphone was included to enable Hi-MD as a field recorder, and the higher price reflects the added value of

1224-873: The C905 being one of the top sellers across the United Kingdom. In June 2008, Sony Ericsson had about 8,200 employees, it then launched a cost-cutting program and by the end of 2009 it had slashed its global workforce by around 5,000 people. It has also closed R&D centres in Chadwick House , Birchwood ( Warrington ) in the UK; Miami, Seattle, San Diego and RTP (Raleigh, NC) in the USA; The Chennai Unit ( Tamil Nadu ) in India; Hässleholm and Kista in Sweden and operations in

1296-806: The Sony Ericsson joint venture. Sony could not repeat the success of the cassette player in the 21st-century digital audio player (DAP) market. Rival Apple 's iPod range became a large success in the market, hindering Walkman sales internationally, though it fared better domestically. The Network Walkman for several years had paltry market share and had also been struggling against numerous other rivals such as Creative , Rio , Mpio and iRiver , although sales and share did eventually increase fivefold in 2005 and continued improving, but remained small. Its pricing policy, SonicStage software and lack of MP3 support in earlier years have been suggested factors of its performance. Its U.S. market share in 2006

1368-525: The Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Miami . According to the head of global marketing partnerships, Stephan Croix, “our sport sponsorships allow us to promote our phones in a subtle and authentic way to our fanbase. Our promise to fans is to enrich their experience during the game but also before and after.” Sony Ericsson Open was renamed to Sony Open Tennis in 2013. Sony Mobile sponsored

1440-624: The Sony Ericsson T610 , the P800 UIQ smartphone, and later the K700 handset. The joint venture continued to make bigger losses in spite of booming sales - however it paid off as Sony Ericsson made its first profit in 2003 and in the following years steadily increased handset sales. The joint venture was regarded to have been a success. In 2005, Sony Ericsson introduced the K750i with

1512-590: The Sony Xperia E device. In 2017 Sony got Sailfish OS into its Open Devices program. As a result, the Sailfish software has been officially ported to many Xperia devices. As of Q2 2018, Sony Mobile's smartphone market share in Japan was 12.5%, behind Apple and Sharp . On March 26, 2020, Sony announced that it will establish an intermediate holding company "Sony Electronics Corporation" effective April 1, 2020. Sony Electronics Corporation will incorporate

SECTION 20

#1732780762096

1584-472: The Xperia sub-brand name; it also developed tablet computers ( Sony Tablet ), smartwatches ( Sony SmartWatch ) and fitness trackers (Sony SmartBand), alongside accessories and software for the devices. Sony Mobile had research and development facilities in Lund, Sweden ; Beijing, China ; Tokyo, Japan ; and San Francisco, United States . At its peak in 2007, Sony Ericsson, Sony Mobile's predecessor, held

1656-540: The Xperia 1 in 2019. Sony (then Sony Ericsson) has been making Bluetooth enabled watches from as early as 2006. In 2010 the LiveView smartwatch was launched, featuring a colour OLED display that let the user view notifications and control the music player. Its successor was the Sony SmartWatch in 2012, of which two newer revisions have been made since. In 2014 a fitness tracking band, named SmartBand,

1728-520: The Xperia X10 model launched in 2010 was the first to feature this. In 2011 Sony Ericsson carried a range of mid and high-end Android smartphones all using the same SoC , only differentiating in form factor, screen size and multimedia capabilities. Although in 2012 the phones already carried the Sony brand on them, they were still (mostly) developed by Sony Ericsson, as can be seen from the green logo on

1800-448: The "Walkman" brand to some transistor radios starting with the matching blue SRF-40 FM Walkman in 1980, and added a radio system to some Walkman cassette models starting with the model WM-F1 in 1982. The first model with Dolby noise-reduction system and an auto reverse function appeared in 1982. The first ultra-compact "cassette-size" Walkman was introduced in 1983, model WM-20, with a telescopic case. This allowed even easier carrying of

1872-717: The 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona , Spain, and the Sony Xperia Z3 in IFA 2014. On October 30, 2014, Sony announced that Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning, Finance and New Business Creation Department Hiroki Totoki will replace Kunimasa Suzuki as president and CEO of Sony Mobile Communications with effect from November 16, 2014. Suzuki subsequently became the Group Executive of Sony Corporation after his departure from Sony Mobile Communications. In

1944-484: The 40th anniversary. In 1989, Sony released portable Video8 recorders marketed as Video Walkman , extending the brand name. In 1990 Sony released portable Digital Audio Tape (DAT) players marketed as DAT Walkman . It was extended further in 1992 for MiniDisc players with the MD Walkman brand. From 1997, Sony's Discman range of portable compact disc (CD) players started to rebrand as CD Walkman . In 2000,

2016-478: The 40th-largest brand on the social networking site. The company aims to capitalise on this fanbase and increase engagement by profiling these fans and matching them to dedicated content. It will also analyse the top commenters on the Facebook page and ensure engagement through special content and offering these fans the chance to visit Sony Ericsson offices. From 2007 to 2014, Sony Ericsson / Sony Mobile sponsored

2088-611: The Edirol R-09HR and the Olympus LS-10. Walkman Walkman ( Japanese : ウォークマン , Hepburn : U~ōkuman ) is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman started out as a portable cassette player and the brand was later extended to serve most of Sony's portable audio devices; since 2011 it consists exclusively of digital flash memory players. The current flagship product as of 2022

2160-763: The Japanese market, Sony Ericsson also produced Linux and Symbian-based MOAP handsets for NTT DoCoMo , as well as REX OS for au/KDDI . Sony Ericsson launched their first Windows Mobile device in 2008, the Xperia X1 , at the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona , which carried the Windows Mobile operating system with a Sony Ericsson panel interface and was manufactured by HTC . They would further develop two more Windows Mobile devices: Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 and Sony Ericsson Aspen in 2010. By this time, Sony Ericsson switched all its focus on Google's Android operating system. The company's CEO did confirm

2232-639: The Liquid Energy logo were the Sony Xperia T and Sony Xperia TX , and the first phones without featuring it were the Sony Xperia J and Sony Xperia V . Both were unveiled at the IFA 2012. At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show the Sony Xperia Z and Sony Xperia ZL were announced, followed by the Sony Xperia Z1 , unveiled during a press conference in IFA 2013, the Sony Xperia Z2 during

Hi-MD - Misplaced Pages Continue

2304-679: The Netherlands. The UIQ centres in London and Budapest were also closed, UIQ was a joint venture with Motorola which began life in the 1990s. On October 27, 2011, Sony announced that it would acquire Ericsson's stake in Sony Ericsson for €1.05 billion ($ 1.47 billion), making the mobile handset business a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony. The transaction's completion was expected to occur in January 2012. At their keynote at

2376-660: The UK. Eventually, in the early 1980s, Walkman caught on globally and Sony used the name worldwide. The TPS-L2 was introduced in the US in June ;1980. The 1980s was the decade of the intensive development of the Walkman lineup. In 1981 Sony released the second Walkman model, the WM-2, which was significantly smaller than the TPS-L2 thanks to the "inverse" mounting of the power-operated magnetic head and soft-touch buttons. Sony applied

2448-491: The US, which in 1982 led to the mayor of Woodbridge, New Jersey banning Walkman from being worn in public due to pedestrian accidents. In the market, the Walkman's success also led to great adoption of the Compact Cassette format. Within a few years, cassettes were outselling vinyl records, and would continue to do so until the compact disc (CD) overtook cassette sales in 1991. In German-speaking countries,

2520-507: The Walkman brand (the entire range) was unified, and a new small icon, "W.", was made for the branding. From 2012, Walkman was also the name of the music player software on Sony Xperia . It has since been rebranded to Music . On December 21, 1999, Sony launched its first digital audio players (DAP), under the name Network Walkman (alongside players developed by the VAIO division). The first player, which used Memory Stick storage medium,

2592-417: The Walkman had a great effect and it became ubiquitous. According to Time , the Walkman's "unprecedented combination of portability (it ran on two AA batteries) and privacy (it featured a headphone jack but no external speaker) made it the ideal product for thousands of consumers looking for a compact portable stereo that they could take with them anywhere". According to The Verge , "the world changed" on

2664-415: The Walkman idea as his own. Finally in 2003, with Pavel threatening to file infringement proceedings in the remaining territories where he held protective rights, Sony approached him with a view to settling the matter amicably, which led to both parties signing a contract and confidentiality agreement in 2004. The settlement was reported to be a cash payment in the "low eight figures" and ongoing royalties of

2736-413: The Walkman, the common device for portable music was the portable radio, which could only offer listeners standard music broadcasts. Having the ability to customize a playlist was a new and exciting revolution in music consumption. Potential buyers had the opportunity to choose their perfect match in terms of mobile listening technology. The ability to play one's personal choice of music and listen privately

2808-403: The back of handsets like the Xperia S and Xperia T . The line-up in 2013 brought an entirely different design of phones, first seen on the Xperia Z smartphone, and called 'OmniBalance' (roughly translated as 'balance everywhere') by Sony. In 2014 Sony stated to be focusing more on the high-end phone market and reducing the number of low and mid-end products. The first model launched in 2015

2880-582: The day the Walkman was released. The Walkman became an icon in 1980s culture. In 1986, the word "Walkman" entered the Oxford English Dictionary . Millions used the Walkman during exercise, marking the beginning of the aerobics fad. Between 1987 and 1997, the height of the Walkman's popularity, the number of people who said they walked for exercise increased by 30%. Other firms, including Aiwa , Panasonic and Toshiba , produced similar products, and in 1983 cassettes outsold vinyl for

2952-541: The decision to move the USA headquarters. Sony Ericsson will close the Research Triangle site. On August 23, 2012, Sony announced heavy cuts of their work force in Lund, Sweden . In September 2014, Sony announced taking a €1.3 billion impairment charge on the Sony Mobile division and cutting another 15% of jobs - equivalenting about 1000 employees - at Sony Mobile. Sony Ericsson (originally Ericsson)

Hi-MD - Misplaced Pages Continue

3024-462: The decline of the cassette Walkman, which was discontinued in Japan in 2010. The last cassette-based model available in the US was the WM-FX290W, which was first released in 2004. The marketing of the Walkman helped introduce the idea of "Japanese-ness" into global culture, synonymous with miniaturization and high-technology. The "Walk-men" and "Walk-women" in advertisements were created to be

3096-470: The device over previous generations of Hi-MD recorders. The result being that the transfer times to and from computer are—under certain circumstances—cut in half over previous models, but still noticeably slower than flash memory and hard drive-based portables, because of the nature of the Hi-MD magneto-optical system. In 2006, Sony positioned Hi-MD as a Digital Audio Tape (DAT) alternative after discontinuing

3168-600: The early nineties as Ericsson Mobile Communications (ECS), primarily to establish a US presence and brand recognition. General Electric eventually left the joint venture. Ericsson had decided to obtain chips for its phones from a single source—a Philips facility in New Mexico . On March 17, 2000, a fire at the Philips factory contaminated the sterile facility. Philips assured Ericsson and Nokia (their other major customer) that production would be delayed for no more than

3240-423: The first time. The Walkman has been cited as influencing people's relationship with music and technology, due to its "solitary" and "personal" nature, as users were listening to their music of choice instead of radio. It has been seen as a precursor of personal mainstream tech possessions such as personal computers or mobile phones. Headphones also started to be worn in public. This caused safety controversies in

3312-616: The format the year before, placing the MZ-RH1 Hi-MD Walkman under the Pro Audio section of its "Broadcast & Business Solutions Company" website, alongside its flash memory -based recorder, the PCM-D1. DAT is a high-quality digital tape format that found a niche with musicians and studios. DAT portables have commonly been used for field recording, but have gradually been replaced by solid-state and hard drive-based units like

3384-558: The handset market was expected to grow by 10% in 2008. Sony Ericsson announced another profit warning in June 2008 and saw net profit crash by 97% in Q2 2008, announcing that it would cut 2,000 jobs, leading to wide fear that Sony Ericsson was on the verge of decline along with its struggling rival, Motorola . In Q3 the profits were much on the same level, however November and December saw increased profits along with new models being released such as

3456-414: The ideal reflections of the viewing audience. Sony implemented a marketing strategy, hiring young adults to walk around in public wearing a Walkman, offering nearby people to test out the product. Sony also hired actors to pose with the Walkman around the streets of Tokyo as an additional form of promotion. A major component of the Walkman advertising campaign was overspecialization of the device. Prior to

3528-530: The last quarter of 2015, Sony Mobile had the highest per-handset-profit and average selling price of all major Android handset manufacturers. However, in terms of market share, Sony Mobile dropped out of the top 10 smartphone vendors globally for the first time in the first quarter of the year. Sony Mobile has been the only major smartphone OEM that has given support to developing communities of smaller, hacker-focused mobile operating systems during this time. In 2013 Sony released an experimental Firefox OS ROM for

3600-708: The microphone. MD had success in Asia (particularly in Japan and Hong Kong ), but North America and Europe leaned toward either flash or hard drive-based systems. For professional recording, many offer features such as professional XLR microphone inputs, among other pro-centric features. These units were typically significantly larger and heavier than a Hi-MD Walkman, often with reduced battery life and higher prices. Hi-MD and MiniDisc recorders are no longer being manufactured, but their role has been taken over by relatively inexpensive flash memory based portable field recorders such as

3672-422: The next PlayStation Certified devices followed by the Sony Xperia S , Xperia ion and other Sony Tablets. Sony Mobile offers a wide range of applications, ranging from music and videos to camera and gaming apps. Some of Sony Mobile's most popular apps include: On October 2, 2006, Sony Ericsson adopted a new corporate and advertising identity inspired by I Love New York in which the circular Sony Ericsson icon

SECTION 50

#1732780762096

3744-543: The only Walkman-branded products still being produced today – although the "Network" prefix is no longer being used, the model numbers still carry the "NW-" prefix. The current product range as of 2022 are: Since 2017, Sony provided the Music Center for PC software on Microsoft Windows , designed for both content transfer and playback for Walkman and other audio products. Sony Ericsson Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( Japanese : ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社 )

3816-505: The request of Masaru Ibuka , the audio department modified the small recorder used by journalists, "Pressman", into a smaller recorder. After many people praised the good sound quality evaluation, under the leadership of Akio Morita , SONY began to launch the Walkman in July 1979. Akio Morita positioned Walkman in the youth market, emphasized youth, vitality, and fashion, and created a headset culture. In February 1980, he began to sell Walkman to

3888-415: The sale of certain Walkman models. Sony cofounder Masaru Ibuka used Sony's bulky TC-D5 cassette recorder to listen to music while traveling for business. He asked the executive deputy president Norio Ohga to design a playback-only stereo version optimized for walking. The metal-cased blue-and-silver Walkman TPS-L2, the world's first low-cost personal stereo , went on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979, and

3960-465: The three businesses that comprise its Electronics Products & Solutions ("EP&S") segment (Imaging Products & Solutions, Home Entertainment & Sound, and Mobile Communications) and related global sales and marketing, manufacturing, logistics, procurement and engineering platforms. In 2009, Sony Ericsson announced that it was moving its North American headquarters from Research Triangle Park, North Carolina , to Atlanta . The headquarters move

4032-444: The time behind Nokia and Motorola , was struggling with huge losses and decreasing market share. This was partly due to this fire as well as its inability to produce cheaper phones or fashionably-designed phones like Nokia managed to do. Speculation began about a possible sale by Ericsson of its mobile phone division, but the company's president, Kurt Hellström, said it had no plans to do so. Hellström said, "Mobile phones are really

4104-561: The use of "Walkman" became generic, meaning a personal stereo of any make, to a degree that the Austrian Supreme Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that Sony could not prevent others from using the term "Walkman" to describe similar goods. It is therefore an example of what marketing experts call the " genericide " of a brand. A large statue of a Sports Walkman FM was erected in Tokyo's Ginza district in 2019 in celebration of

4176-581: The world, and in November 1980, he began to use the non-standard Japanese and English brands globally. The Walkman has sold more than 250 million units worldwide. When Akio Morita was knighted in October 1992, the headline in the British newspapers The Sun and The Daily Telegraph was "Arise, Sir Sony Walkman" [Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, Paul du Gay] [1] The Compact Cassette

4248-401: Was 1.9%, placing it behind Apple, SanDisk , Creative and Samsung . In Japan its share in 2009–2010 was between 43 and 48%, slightly ahead of Apple. Meanwhile, Sony Computer Entertainment , a Sony division who are not involved in Walkman products, officially described their PlayStation Portable in 2004 as the "21st century Walkman". Walkman portable digital audio and media players are

4320-603: Was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Corporation and Ericsson . It was originally incorporated as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications , and headquartered in London , England, until Sony acquired Ericsson's share in the venture on February 16, 2012. On April 1, 2021, Sony integrated its electronics businesses including Sony Mobile into one company called Sony Corporation . Prior to April 1, 2021, Sony Mobile exclusively created Android -powered smartphones under

4392-466: Was a huge selling point of the Walkman, especially amongst teens, who greatly contributed to its success. A diversity of features and styles suggested that there would be a product which was "the perfect choice" for each consumer. This method of marketing to an extremely expansive user-base while maintaining the idea that the product was made for each individual "[got] the best of all possible worlds—mass marketing and personal differentiation". Culturally

SECTION 60

#1732780762096

4464-520: Was branded as MS Walkman , shortly before the Walkman brand unification. Most future models would use built-in solid-state flash memory , although hard disk based players were also released from 2004 to 2007. They came with OpenMG copyright protection and, until 2004, exclusively supported Sony's in-house ATRAC format; there was no support for industry-standard MP3 as Sony wanted to protect its records division, Sony BMG , from piracy . Additionally, Walkman-branded mobile phones were also made by

4536-529: Was developed by the Dutch electronics firm Philips and released in August 1963. In the late 1960s, the introduction of prerecorded compact cassettes made it possible to listen to music on portable devices as well as on car stereos, though gramophone records remained the most popular format for home listening. Portable tape players of various designs were available, but none of them were intended to be operated by

4608-667: Was introduced. The device's data is accessed using an Android application named Lifelog , which presents statistics about their everyday activities. In 2015, a successor to the SmartBand was introduced, named SmartBand 2, which can track user's heart rate, movements, sleep, and the moments they are calm or excited. In 2011, Sony Ericsson announced the first PlayStation Certified phone, the Xperia Play which meant that it had access to PlayStation Mobile games. The previously released Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc and Xperia acro became

4680-541: Was part of a plan to reduce its workforce, then 10,000 employees, by 20%. As of that year, Sony Ericsson had 425 employees in Research Triangle Park; the staff had been reduced by hundreds due to layoffs. Stacy Doster, a spokesperson of Sony Ericsson, said that the proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport 's flights to Latin America and the operations of AT&T Mobility influenced

4752-729: Was part of the Symbian Ltd. consortium and supported the UIQ pen-based touch interface for Symbian OS . The first Sony Ericsson UIQ smartphone was the Sony Ericsson P800 in 2002. Sony Ericsson joined the Symbian Foundation in 2008 and soon UIQ Technology went bankrupt - the Sony Ericsson Satio was released in 2009 running on Symbian^1, which would be succeeded by Sony Ericsson Vivaz in 2010. For

4824-516: Was removed for compatible Hi-MD machines. In 2005, Sony released its second-generation Hi-MD devices offering native MP3 support. In 2005, Sony announced Hi-MD Photo. The Sony MZ-DH10P Walkman was released to showcase the format with a 1.3 megapixel digital camera. In March 2006, Sony released the MZ-RH1 Hi-MD Walkman in Japan, which was later followed in other regions. With this unit, Sony enabled faster-than-real time transfers from MiniDisc to computers. Sony made tangible speed improvements to

4896-728: Was renamed the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Just over a month later on June 7, it announced sponsorship of West Indian batsmen Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan . In 2007, the company's first 5-Megapixel camera phone, the Sony Ericsson K850i , was announced followed in 2008 by the C905 , the world's first 8.1-Megapixel camera phone. At Mobile World Congress 2009, Sony Ericsson unveiled the first 12-Megapixel camera phone, named Satio . On January 2, 2009, Sony Ericsson announced in Stockholm that it would have some of its mobile phones made in India, and that its two outsourcing partners, Flextronics and Foxconn would manufacture ten million mobile phones per year by 2009. CEO Miles Flint announced at

4968-422: Was sold for around ¥33,000 (or $ 150.00). Though Sony predicted it would sell about 5,000 units a month, it sold more than 30,000 in the first two months. The Walkman was followed by a series of international releases; as overseas sales companies objected to the wasei-eigo name, it was sold under several names, including Sound-about in the United States, Freestyle in Australia and Sweden, and Stowaway in

5040-415: Was the Sony Xperia S at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. In May 2012, Sony Mobile Communications announced that it would phase out all the feature (non-smart) phones in favor of "smartphones" by September 2012. Sony Mobile was the fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer by market share in the fourth quarter of 2012 with 9.8 million units shipped. On July 2, 2012, Sony announced it was buying Gaikai,

5112-401: Was the Xperia Z3+ , featuring updated internals in a body similar to the Xperia Z3 . In 2016, Sony introduced the Xperia X series at MWC 2016 to replace the Z series. The last device to launch under the Xperia X series was the Xperia XZ3 , a flagship device released in late-2018 featuring an OLED display, a first for Sony smartphones, then it got replaced by the number series introduced on

5184-423: Was to have an initial workforce of 3,500 employees. Sony Ericsson's strategy was to release new models capable of digital photography as well as other multimedia capabilities such as downloading and viewing video clips and personal information management capabilities. To this end, it released several new models which had built-in digital camera and colour screen which were novelties at that time - examples include

#95904