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Sony Ericsson punts Facebook integration

Tessa Reed
By Tessa Reed, Journalist
Johannesburg, 26 Aug 2011

Sony Ericsson is marketing its 'Live with Walkman' phone on the strength of its Facebook integration, which allows users to like, share and discover content in several ways.

According to the company, the phone's Walkman hardware button offers the user direct access to the music player and allows Facebook to be accessed through the application.

In this way, users can share content with their Facebook contacts while still in the music player. In addition, the Media Discovery Application gives users access to music and videos, including Facebook recommendations from their friends.

Sony Ericsson says Facebook can also be accessed from the phonebook, picture gallery and calendar.

In spite of this, Arthur Goldstuck, World Wide Worx MD, points out that Sony Ericsson is competing against every major smartphone brand on the market, all of which have music and social networking capabilities.

Steven Ambrose, MD of Strategy Worx, also argues that while the phone has no real logical competitors, all smart devices can, in some form or another, actually replicate much of what the phone can do.

According to Goldstuck, even though the phone's integration of music choice with Facebook is unique, the phone does not offer anything sufficiently new to the market to change the brand perception of Sony Ericsson.

Though Ambrose says the phone is not revolutionary, he describes it as “a clever blend of social media prowess and entertainment media capability”.

However, Ambrose argues that Sony Ericsson has a fairly unique market position regarding media capabilities because of its electronics expertise and the ability to utilise content from Sony Entertainment.

The device is intended to appeal to younger, connected, and media-consuming customers, says Ambrose. Goldstuck also predicts that “die-hard Sony Ericsson users” who desire portable music will be delighted with the phone.

He explains that the phone is an extension of the company's Walkman phone range, which has been around for the past few years.

“Sony Ericsson has done a good job of refreshing the Walkman concept to keep up with changing trends, but done a very poor job of communicating what it has to offer,” says Goldstuck.

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