Sony Ericsson to produce low-cost mobile phones in India

February 2, 2007

Sony Ericsson announced on Wednesday that it will produce low-cost mobile handsets featuring color screens and music capability in India. The company has reached agreements with Singapore and Taiwan based companies, Flextronics and Foxconn to manufacture the phones.

Sony Ericsson said that besides competitive prices, Sony Ericsson mobile phones will provide customized features, including local content and a customized keypad for the Indian market, in a press statement.

The company achieved success and became the fourth biggest cell phone producer in the world with premium phones that included such features like Cybershot digital cameras and Walkman music players. The analysts say that if the company looks forward to become number three producer of mobile phones it needs to focus on low cost phones. Providing mobile phones for customers with lower income is a strategy that analysts consider to be quite useful for Sony Ericsson.

Speaking at a press conference in Chennai, the president of Sony Ericsson, Miles Flint, said that manufacturing in India will result in improved cost efficiencies and enable the company to provide attractive cell phones at competitive prices.

A Japanese-Swedish joint venture, Sony Ericsson surpassed the third largest mobile phone maker Samsung in terms of revenue in the fourth quarter, through sales of its upmarket line of phones.