The launch of Sony Ericsson's latest top-of-the-range mobile phone
may be delayed, but it should make the shops in time for
Christmas.
The P800, a tri-band phone with a 230 x 320 pixel colour touch
screen, built-in digital camera and simple PDA functionality, was
announced in March. Sony Ericsson said at the time that the phone
would be available in the third quarter of this year and
demonstrated it at various events around the world.
"We start shipping the P800 to operators in a few weeks' time. It
should be in shops before Christmas," said Peter Bodor, a Sony
Ericsson spokesman. "It just took a bit longer than expected to get
it ready."
Nokia seems to have won this particular features race. Its 7650,
which has a built-in camera, was launched late June. Sony Ericsson
however, earlier triumphed over Nokia when its T68 - the first
handset with a colour screen - launched in Europe.
Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Dataquest, a unit of Gartner,
believed the P800 delay was unlikely to bother many mobile phone
users.
"Taken that it is not a low-end phone, I don't think that people
are waiting for it," she said, adding that Sony Ericsson hit the
right track with the T300, which competes with Nokia's 3300 series.
The T300, due out later this year, has a colour screen and a small
price tag, according to Sony Ericsson.
Sony Ericsson has not said why the P800 is launching late, although
Dataquest's Milanesi guessed that it could be either a marketing
move to launch the phone just before Christmas, or a manufacturing
problem.