Sony Ericsson has laid out a proposition for their customers at MWC. Entertainment Unlimited is their name for “the true fusion of communication and entertainment” that the partners have been working on since 2001. It's a statement that makes clear their corporate direction of smartphones, and as such is a good marker to remind journalists what Sony Ericsson want to do. Coupled with their concept smartphone Idou announced yesterday, this is a line in the sand drawn by the Swedish company, answering the obvious question of “what now after UIQ?”

There are three promises behind the proposition:

• To bring the best entertainment experiences into one offering, including music, imaging, music and gaming (although they stress Java gaming).

• Broadening entertainment experiences by allowing the smartphone to communicate with other devices around the house for sharing media.

• “Fusing Communication with Entertainment by removing barriers and offering unlimited sharing opportunities.” I've quoted this one as it is a bit of a mouthful, and seems to be written by committee. I suspect many would have liked to seen “no DRM” here but it is conspicuous in its absence.

Sony Ericsson have a strong range of feature phones which are well liked by network carriers at least in the UK – the Walkman branding is still relatively strong at the point of sale – although their high end smartphones have been a bit hit and miss since the late arriving P990. MWC has come at the wrong time in their product cycle so this press release, which does seem to be stating the obvious, is partly a call to arms, but also a “we're not dead yet” press release.

The full press release can be found here.

-- Ewan Spence, Feb 2009.