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SearchSony Ericsson seeks to outdo Nokia in X1 marketing buzz
Last month, Sony Ericsson was vocally denying reports that its flagship launch this year, the Xperia X1 Windows handset, was delayed. Now, however, it admits that the product will be released as promised on September 30, but only through restricted channels in key markets like the UK. Nonetheless, the phonemaker is planning a major marketing initiative around the smartphone, as it fights for attention in the pre-Christmas buying period among other high profile new arrivals like the Nokia N96 and Samsung i850 Innov8 - even if some of its tactics look like copycats of Nokia’s N96 drive.
In the UK, O2 and Vodafone will offer the Xperia X1, which has been hotly anticipated since it was unveiled back in February, from the end of this month. Orange will also have the phone, but only through indirect channels, mainly Phones4U. T-Mobile and 3 will not have the product in Q4. Dave Hilton, marketing director for SE in the UK and Ireland, said in an interview: “As part of a plan to launch the Xperia X1 this year we had to limit the release. Come Q1, there will be resources to range it elsewhere. As it was a fairly late project, only limited networks could be involved, but it will be available to the large retailers and a small amount will go through distribution for other retailers.”
For users who can get their hands on an X1, there will be a full-on marketing campaign and some new applications - such as the social networking service Trutap, offered within the SE ‘Fun and Download’ portal. Like Nokia, SE will rely on video and music promotions and film tie-ins to promote its current favourite child. Most importantly, the handset will feature in the upcoming new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace - SE has worked with the Bond franchise before, but saw its thunder stolen in the summer when the Nokia N96 took a prominent role in the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight. Bond actor Daniel Craig will carry a special edition silver C902 version of the X1 in Quantum, and the device will feature in TV, cinema, outdoor and press ads as well as in-store promotion in O2 outlets.
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Sony Ericsson is also emulating Nokia in signing for guidebook content from Lonely Planet to complement its mapping and location offerings (Nokia did a similar deal last month); and in promising exclusive mobile video content, notably a reality thriller web series called Johnny X, comprising nine episodes about an amnesiac piecing together his identity. As he finds out more about his life, he updates his handset with new content related to his personality and identity, reflecting how the phone can be personalized to individual lifestyles.
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In particular, the X1 offers an interface with applications and widgets reflected in user defined panels. Lennard Hoornik, the vendor’s head of marketing, said: “No two Xperia X1 will ever have the same combination of panels on the phone; we are all individuals and deserve to have a phone that reflects that.”
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In yet another copy of a key Nokia strategy, SE is widely expected to launch a challenge to its Finnish rival’s Comes with Music offering. It will work with UK-based Omnifone, which provides a white label music service for operators, called MusicStation, as supported by Vodafone and others. This offers unlimited music downloads and can also support subscriptions. Although SE will not confirm the reports, recording industry sources say that the top four music publishers have already signed up (Nokia is still waiting for EMI). The real potential would lie, of course, in tie-ups with the Sony partner in the venture, perhaps with its expected PlayStation Portable phone, or its content divisions.
December 5th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
[...] like to say that this covert weapon was something that Q and the boys had whipped up for James Bond in one of his latter day outings, but unfortunately, the truth of the matter is a quite a bit more [...]