Sony Ericsson censured as Satio advert is labelled misleading

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Not great news for Sony Ericsson as the BBC reports on their censure from the Advertising Standards Authority (the ASA) in the UK this morning. The complaints about the advertising of the Satio handset and its Facebook integration – due to firmware problems the Facebook functionality was not present or available in the handset, the ASA have labelled the advert as misleading. Sony Ericsson have now sorted the issue.

From the ASA’s judgement:

Sony Ericsson said that access to the Facebook website was integrated via links on the phone and that they had made no claims regarding the level of functionality these links would allow. They explained that a software problem had meant the Facebook application had initially not been available for the phone. They advised that this problem had been resolved and that the Facebook application could now be downloaded from their application website and used on the Satio.

…and their assessment:

We noted that a software problem had initially prevented the application being available but this had now been rectified. However, because the ad implied the application was either preloaded on the phone or would be available to download, and because this was not the case at the time the ad was broadcast, we concluded the ad was misleading.

The Satio has not had a smooth road to the market, and firmware issues continue to haunt the device. The rise of customised firmware from hackers, while a testament to what a good bit of crowd sourcing can do for a manufacturer does not shine a good light on their testing department, and we wonder if there has been any long term damage to their standing in the early adopter crowd.

No doubt these questions will be addressed when the Vivaz adf Vivaz Pro go on sale later this year.

You can read the full adjudication here.