Sony Ericsson today unveils the world’s first ever motion activated headphones that sense the user. The clever MH907 headphones mean users simply plug in two earphones to start listening to music and pause by removing one earbud.

To start listening again simply plug it back in. Do exactly the same to answer and end calls – simple as 1,2,3!

Sony Ericsson’s SensMe™ Control technology responds without a single press of a button, and with a Clear Audio experience users encounter superior sound on the move and enjoy their favourite music as it’s meant to be heard.

“Gossip with the girls. Whisper sweet nothings in her ear. Say hi to mum. Want to pocket your phone? Stay connected all day, every day. Get the Motion Activated Headphones MH907!”

Go Shopping!

The Sony Ericsson Motion Activated Headphones MH907 at a glance

Sony Ericsson is in the middle of a global tour to explain its app store strategy to a handpicked group of tier one developers.

The 15 location roadshow has been conceived to accelerate the creation of compelling apps for Sony Ericsson devices – with generous rewards offered in return.

In this exclusive interview, ME asked Christopher David, head of developer and partner engagement at Sony Ericsson, about all things app.

What’s the scope of this developer tour?

The roadshow is going to 15 locations including Nordics, Brazil, Asia, West and East Coast US, France, Germany and more. We plan to meet between 20 and 50 developers at each, and they’ll be the premier developers in their locations.

What are you looking to achieve?

Our mantra is accessibility. We’ll keep the barrier low with no submission fee or membership cost. We want to make the platform a one stop shop as far as possible. More specifically, we want to define a hero programme for the very best partners.

The aim is to build a business together, one with genuine rewards built in. We’re not looking for dozens of Sudoko games, but for apps that enhance the Sony Ericsson mobile experience. So there will be tangible benefits for our partners to include access to tools, distribution, marketing and position.

Give me an example.

Well, we would look to offer a ‘five days to portal’ promise.

What’s the backstory for the Sony Ericsson app store? You haven’t been as vocal as Nokia or Apple, for example.

We’ve been running an app store of sorts since 2002 when we launched Fun And Downloads and subsequently PlayNow. But obviously that was run on a selective basis.

So in the summer, we opened up the app marketplace to developers, and formed a partnership with Getjar too. The store is live in 69 countries, and accessible in 240m devices.

What is the process for developers looking to join in?

If they have an idea they want to nurture, they can submit concepts to Sony Ericsson Labs for incubation and comment by the community. Alternatively, they can go through submit.sonyericsson.com. We aim for a 30 day period from submission to the channel.

And the payments?

Time to money is very very important. We work on a 70:30 rev share and when the developer share reaches 500 euros they get paid automatically every 30 days.

How many apps are live now?

We have around 150 apps live with 400 in the pipeline. So far 90 per cent of apps have been approved. There’s the technical side: Does it launch? Does it fill the screen? Does it use touch where applicable and so on. But we’re also looking at products that enhance the proposition. And we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the high standard in this respect.

150 doesn’t seem like many in the light of Apple’s 75,000.

Well, as I said, we’re going for quality over quantity – and don’t forget we have GetJar for the long tail.

In the past, Sony Ericsson has been very amenable to operator concerns about what could be perceived as competitive services. Now that you’re ramping up your app store, does that remain the case?

Any phone can run PlayNow and Arena, but in major territories we’re looking at ways to integrate operator services with our own. We’ll make sure there’s always a channel that makes the best apps for Sony Ericsson available to Sony Ericsson users.

Mmm. What does that mean in practice? An operator store with a link to a Sony Ericsson channel?

Yes, obviously that’s one option – hypothetically.

With a rev share for the operator?

Hypothetically.

Finally, what’s the endgame with all of this? Apps can never generate the kind of revenues that hardware sales do, yet there’s huge effort and investment in services. Ultimately, what’s it all for?

Are we looking at massive profits from apps? Currently, no. But what we’re working towards are solutions that knit together a group of elements to deliver great consumer experiences – the hardware, OS, middleware, user interface and so on.

We know we can’t generate the best ideas solely from within our organisation, so we’re reaching out to developers.

And we’re doing it now because there’s a new era beginning at Sony Ericsson. The portfolio is very exciting, starting with the Xperia X2, Satio and Aino. But beyond that we have some genuinely exciting new devices to come.

Companies including Apple, Nokia and Sony Ericsson yesterday promised to start offering phones that fit a universal charger from next year.

The move comes in response to anger from consumers who are landed with chargers with different connections for each phone bought.

Say goodbye to all these phone chargers. Mobile companies have agreed to go universal.

Most are thrown away, creating unnecessary cost and waste. There are more than 30 different chargers in circulation in member states of the European Union, which estimates that 51,000 are lying unused.

The other seven companies to sign the deal are Motorola, LG, NEC, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and the BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.
The first generation of phones that use the same Micro-USB connection will go on sale from next year.

The move comes against a background of legal threats from the European Commission. EU Industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen said: ‘I am very pleased the industry has found an agreement, which will make life much simpler for consumers.
‘They will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger.
‘This also means considerably less electronic waste because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones.’

Pledge: The move, which will see mobile phone makers offer a universal charger, was announced by European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen

MEP Malcolm Harbour, the Conservative consumer spokesman, said: ‘The days of drawers full of useless old mobile phone chargers will soon be over. Common sense has prevailed.

‘This is a simple agreement that will have an extremely positive impact on users’ lives. We will no longer have to worry about forgetting our chargers and having to ask around to find one.

‘This agreement will also encourage more chargers to be recycled, preventing electronic waste.

‘Mobile phone companies should consider whether a new charger is now needed with every handset if there is a possibility that an old one can be recycled.

‘It is particularly welcome the commission was able to reach agreement with the industry, without new regulation.’

Most people keep their phones about their person. Right now, your phone’s probably in your pocket. It is, isn’t it?

Even if you’ve got your handset within your grasp, sometimes the idea of being able to check your watch for calls rather than rummaging around in your pocket to see who’s calling is a pleasant one.

You might be in a meeting, where the slightly impatient-looking watch move is still far better than the downright rude grasp for your phone. Or perhaps you’re in a cinema, where the tiny bit of luminescence from a watch display won’t win you those hate-filled looks that a room-illuminating phone screen would.

At the top of the range model in Sony Ericsson’s Bluetooth watch series is the MBW-200.

You’d never guess the metal-strapped watch was Bluetooth-enabled without delving into its menus or scrutinising the couple of millimetres of extra girth it has around its back.

Although it took us a while to figure out to sync the MBW-200 to the phone, primarily down to our stubborn insistence on not reading the manual, after figuring out exactly which button to press, it worked like a dream. The watch automatically searches for the nearest device so, as long as that’s your phone, all you have to do is confirm a few pop-up requests on the phone itself.

Once duly sync’d, calls and texts will cause a light vibration in the watch, and the caller’s number or name, if they’re in your phone book, will appear in the one-line LCD display. Not only is this a great application of Bluetooth functionality, but it’s certain to impress your friends too.

This would be enough to justify the MBW-200s existence, but you can also control your phone’s music player from the watch’s buttons too. The three buttons to the left of the watch’s face take on these duties. The middle one acts as a play/stop button, while the others boast dual functions. Quick taps on them change the volume on your phone while more prolonged presses change tracks.

The most impressive factor of the watch is that it manages to include all these features without ever doing so conspicuously. Aside from the small OLED display, the MBW-200 looks and feels much like a standard high quality, tasteful mens’ watch. Well, that and the fact that Sony Ericsson is written on the fascia.

Thanks to the power-draining Bluetooth features, the battery in the watch won’t last anywhere near as long as a normal watch- with a claimed 7 days of constant use- but charging it is easy enough. The MBW-200 comes supplied with a clip that attaches at one end to a pair of connectors under the watch, and a standard Sony Ericsson charger at the other. Unless you’re the kind of person that literally never takes off their watch, it shouldn’t pose a problem.

Impressed as we were with the MBW-200s Bluetooth functionality, at £199.99 it’s up against a lot of quality watches from several names that are much more renowned in the watch world than Sony Ericsson- Tissot and Rotary to name but two. Wisely, Sony Ericsson has made the designs of the three MBW-200 variants attractive but relatively unassuming.

The metal-strapped Contemporary, which we looked at, has a largely unadorned face, apart from its surface pattern. The black, leather-strapped Evening Classic is arguably even simpler. We’re a little less convinced by the italic font used on the women’s version, the Sparkling Allure, though.

The MBW-200 is arguably a lot more useful than your normal watch. It’s a remote for your media player, and a discreet way to keep up with your phone. We can imagine it quickly becoming indispensable for anyone that gets on with its Bluetooth features.

Dubbed “Idou” when it was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona earlier this year, the Swedish-Japanese giant confirmed last month it would market the device globally as “Satio”.

Satio is believed to be the world’s first 12MP cellular handset, and according to dealers, would hit the UAE market in October. Sony Ericsson has, however, only confirmed “early Q4″ as its release date in the Emirates. Meanwhile, tech websites reported last week that rival Samsung has also announced a 12MP phone dubbed the Samsung M8910 Pixon12.

Weighing around 126gm, the quad band Satio has 3G capabilities and is a full-touchscreen smartphone with a 3.5-inch display and GPS. The first model in a new series of entertainment phones from Sony Ericsson this year, the handset is being marketed as a device capable of providing “unlimited entertainment” including a music player, e-mail and messaging, Bluetooth, PC syncing, USB mass storage and a personal organiser among others, powered by the Symbian operating system.

The handset’s camera is also equipped with powerful features, according to the manufacturers, including face detection, a staggering 16x digital zoom, picture blogging, red-eye reduction and touch capture. Measuring 112x55x13.3mm, it will come with a 128MB on board memory with a microSD memory card support. The Satio will be available in the UAE and other key markets in three colours: black, silver and bordeaux.

Dealers in the UAE would not, however, specify the expected price of the phone, saying it could range between Dh2,000 and Dh4,000. The Satio is one of three new high-end touchphones to be launched by Sony Ericsson in the next few months – the other two being the Aino, which lets users remotely access their PlayStations, and the Yari, which features gesture gaming.

“Imagine a phone with a 12.1MP camera. It is the world’s first and I am sure most people would covet this handset,” says Musbah Alhmoud, a self-confessed Sony Ericsson loyalist.

“But it is not just the camera. The phone is equipped with massive entertainment capabilities and other features, including for business.”

Mobile phone dealers in the capital say the Satio would give a strong push to Sony Ericsson’s campaign to defend its market share in the UAE and other countries, noting that the company has stepped up its promotion drive in the past two years with a barrage of sophisticated handsets and increased promotional campaigns and celebrity endorsements.

“Sony Ericsson spends more than all other mobile phone makers on promotion campaigns in the Middle East,” says Abdul Monem Al Hariri, sales manager at Golden Crown, one of the largest mobile phone dealers in the capital.

“I think the company might be feeling the pinch of growing competition here and worldwide and wants to defend its share.

I feel that what they are spending is paying off as the company is now trailing the market leader Nokia of Finland.

“Of every 10 mobiles, we sell six Nokias and three Sony Ericssons,” he adds.

Sony Ericsson was among the top three mobile phone makers a few years ago and its market share had steadily grown before it began to slip with the entry of many new manufacturers, mostly from China and the development of advanced handsets by other key mobile phone makers, mainly Nokia and Samsung.

In the first quarter of 2009, Sony Ericsson sold around 14.4 million mobile handsets compared with nearly 22 million phones in the same period last year. The decline depressed its market share to 5.4 from 7.5 per cent, according to figures by tech researcher Gartner.

In contrast, Samsung’s sales increased to 51.3 million handsets from 42.3 million in the same period, boosting its market share to 19.1 from 14.4 per cent and allowing it to maintain its position as the second largest after Nokia.

Despite a sharp fall in Nokia’s sales to 97.3 million handsets from 115.1 million, the Finnish giant retained its top position in the list of mobile phone makers. But its market share slipped to 36.2 from 39.1 per cent.

LG Electronic, the second biggest mobile phone maker in South Korea, is the third largest mobile phone manufacturer in the first quarter of 2009 with a market share of 9.9 per cent. Motorola came fourth with a share of 6.2 per cent.

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