Sony Ericsson seems good and ready to launch its first application store. Since everyone else is having a store of their own, why should Sony Ericsson be any different? But the company has taken a totally different approach on this one. Instead of creating a dedicated app store it decided to add the apps to the PlayNow arena. The service is used so far for music distribution and starting this month for movie rentals too. Is Sony Ericsson copying Apple’s iTunes?

The future apps will be available in 13 countries and it will run on about 38 Sony Ericsson phones when the app store is ready to be launched. The first apps you can expect will be Java- or Symbian-based but who knows what Sony Ericsson is preparing for later this year when at least an Android phone is expected. Developers will be able to submit their apps starting with July 1 and the store will therefore be launched at a later date.

via businesswire

Tags: App Store, Apple, Arena, iTunes, Mobile News, Mobile Software, playnow, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson has at least one more trick up its sleeve before going under. The company is getting ready to launch its mobile movie content business this June. It’s not an app store but it’s still a similar service. The new movie downloads section will be part of the existing PlayNow Arena service. Using the new service you will be able to download videos to your PC at first and then you’ll be able to bring them to life on your smartphone. The movies will be available to play for 90 days after being purchased so you will have plenty of time to enjoy them.

Unfortunately the whole selection process might not really suit your needs. You will be able to choose from 15 movies at any time and up to 60 movies per year with certain phones. The service will be available at first on the W995 and customers in Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK will get it this June. No news about prices yet but we’ll be waiting for the official launch to tell you more.

via playnowarena

Tags: Arena, Mobile News, Movies, playnow, Portable Devices, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, videos, W995

Sony Ericsson has launched a new camera phone. The anticipated phone is the Idou, which features a 12.1-megapixel camera with auto focus and an array of advanced camera touch features such as true 16:9 widescreen format and a xenon flash. The ‘Idou’ is one of a number of projects that will be launched this year under the umbrella of Entertainment Unlimited.

Idou encapsulates the future of mobile entertainment in the palm of your hand delivering visual communication like never before.

Based on what will become the Symbian Foundation operating system, thousands of applications are available online letting you install new applications and download exciting content from PlayNow™ to make the Idou truly yours.

Dick Komiyama, President, Sony Ericsson said, “Entertainment Unlimited is at the core of Sony Ericsson’s philosophy, building on the strength of our great entertainment assets such as Walkman and Cyber-shot phones and our unique service and applications integration. Many of the strategic initiatives we’ve announced in the past year have laid the internal framework to launch this new consumer proposition to the market and Sony Ericsson is now ready to drive the next wave of market development with Entertainment Unlimited.”

Idou will be available 2nd Half of 2009. *”Idou” is a concept name for this phone and not the final name under which the product will be marketed to the public.

Tags: advanced camera, auto focus, entertainment unlimited, new camera, playnow, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, xenon flash

The Sony Ericsson T658c mobile phone just got the approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Intended for the China market (hence the ‘c’ in the name), the T658c features a 3.2 megapixel camera for some neat photos on your phone, as well as themes, illumination and materials inspired by nature. It is a GSM 900/1800/1900MHz tri-band phone and supports Java J2ME for apps and games. As with most other phones, it supports a flight mode where all communication related features are turned off but you can still use the T658c as a camera or music player.

The Sony Ericsson T658c offers USB connectivity for data sync and copying over your music. It supports PlayNow, and some of the common SE applications like VideoDJ, PhotoDJ and MusicDJ are available on the phone. The phone takes in Memory Stick Micro (the M2). Obviously, the phone supports Chinese input as well. The included music player supports MP3, MP4, M4A, 3GP, AAC, AAC+, AMR, MIDI, WAV and other formats, as well as streaming music and video.

There’s also a full-fledged email client that supports POP3/IMAP4 email. The camera lets you record videos. If your service provider supports it, you can also get information on traffic and other useful info depending on your area/cell info.

No word on the pricing or exact availability.

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Tags: 3.2mpx, camera phone, Cell Phones, fcc approval, musicdj, playnow, Sony Ericsson, videodj