SE Joins Open Handset Alliance With 13 Other Companies

Sony Ericsson has announced the extension of its portfolio strategy to include support for the Open Handset Alliance.

"Sony Ericsson is excited to announce its membership of the Open Handset Alliance and confirm its intention to develop a handset based on the Android platform," said Rikko Sakaguchi, CVP and head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson. "We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance drawing on the successes of the Walkman and Cyber-shot sub-brands.  Sony Ericsson is a strong supporter of open operating systems and we believe the Open Handset Alliance offers an exciting opportunity for a new and unique user experience only Sony Ericsson can deliver."

Membership of the Open Handset Alliance will complement the company’s existing Open OS strategy which is based on the Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms.

13 other companies that include ARM, ASUSTek Computer Inc., ARM, Toshiba Corporation and Vodafone have also signed up. By joining the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, these companies will demonstrate their support for Android as an open mobile platform and their commitment to its commercial success. The other new members are: AKM Semiconductor Inc., Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International Inc., Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co. Ltd, Softbank Mobile Corporation and Teleca AB.

New members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices.