Sony Ericsson X1X2

Frbiz.com, one of China's leading B2B search platforms with more than 30 B2B industry websites to its name, evaluates the Sony Ericsson X1/X2.
In appearance, the X2's body has curved design with a 3.2-inch screen, compared to the X1's 3.0-inch screen. Both screen resolutions are maintained at 480 * 800 pixels and support handwriting and touch-control. The X2 is more convenient to operate because of its 3.2-inch screen.
Not only is the X2's 3.2-inch screen bigger than the X1's, it is also wider at 1.4mm. The Sony Ericsson X1 uses metal material, while the X2 front body uses a high-polished plastic material. Also the back uses metal and joins the concave design, which, compared to the X1, has a better feeling in hand. However, the positive application of polishing material on the X2 prevents serious fingerprinting.
Sony Ericsson is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001[1] by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to make mobile phones. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sony's consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson's technological leadership in the communications sector. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones.
The company's global management is based in London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and it has research & development teams in Sweden, Japan, China, Germany, the United States, India and the United Kingdom. By 2009, it was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world after Nokia, Samsung and LG[3] The sales of products largely increased due to the launch of the adaptation of Sony's popular Walkman and Cyber-shot series.
The Sony Ericsson X2 and X1 are equipped with the same 1500mAh Li-ion battery, the two phones have the same hardware configurations, and their standby times are also very close: half an hour calls, 10 SMS sending and receiving, 1 hour of music and 2 hours of other operations. The charge can last 2 days, so performance is still acceptable.
Troubles in Ericsson's mobile phone business
In the United States, Ericsson partnered with General Electric in the early nineties, primarily to establish a US presence and brand recognition.
Ericsson had decided to obtain chips for its phones from a single source -- a Philips facility in New Mexico. In March 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 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 cellular phone market for decades, and was the world's no. 3 cellular telephone handset maker, was struggling with huge losses -- in spite of booming sales since 2000 -- due to this fire, and its inability to produce cheaper phones like Nokia. To curtail the losses, it considered outsourcing production to Asian companies that can produce the handset for lower costs.
Speculation began about a possible sale by Ericsson of its mobile phone division, but the company's president said they had no plans to do that. "Mobile phones are really a core business for Ericsson. We wouldn't be as successful (in networks) if we didn't have phones", he said.
Background of the joint venture
Sony was a marginal player in the worldwide cell phone market with a share of less than 1 percent in 2000. Despite sustaining losses in this area, it wanted to focus on it more. In April 2001, Sony confirmed that it was in talks with Ericsson for a possible collaboration in the handset business. This was soon after Toshiba and Siemens had announced plans in November 2000 to work together on handsets for 3G mobile networks, which was cancelled in 2001.
By August 2001, the two companies had finalized the terms of the merger announced in April. The company was to have an initial workforce of 3,500 employees.
Early troubles
In spite of having aimed to be profitable in its very first year, Ericsson's market share actually fell and in August 2002, Ericsson said it would stop making mobile phones and end its partnership with Sony if the business continues to disappoint even as Sony said it was fully committed to the joint venture and wanted to make it a success. However, in January 2003, both companies said they would inject more money into the joint venture in a bid to stem the losses.
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 color screen which were novelties at that time. The high-end P800 which featured a built-in camera and PDA attributes was successful and helped in turning around. The joint venture, however, continued to make bigger losses in spite of booming sales. Thus, it kept postponing its target date for making a profit from its first year to 2002 to 2003 to second half of 2003.
It even failed in its mission of becoming the top seller of multimedia handsets and was in fifth-place and struggling in 2003.