Sony Ericsson moves into no-frills mobile market with triple launch

Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone manufacturer best known for its high-end music and camera phones, is taking an aggressive step into the no-frills market with the launch of three easy-to-use handsets.

The company, which revived the iconic Walkman brand earlier this year, will launch the Z300 before the end of this year, followed by the J220 and J230 in the first three months of 2006.

The launches will be supported by a high-profile marketing campaign that is likely to feature the basic models alongside Sony Ericsson’s top-level handsets.

The company hopes the handsets will appeal to people looking for an aspirational brand but a simple mobile phone. It has operated in no-frills areas in the past, but these launches spell the most aggressive push into this market yet from the company.

Vice-president of product marketing Steve Walker says/ “Perhaps as an industry we might have concentrated on the high-end phones, but we have realised that there are still parts of the market that are saying they’re not ready.”

Sony Ericsson brought back the Walkman brand in August with the launch of the W800i. The phone can store 120 songs and the launch was backed by a major marketing campaign. The company also signed up Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay as the phone’s global brand ambassador.