Several blurry cameraphone pictures of a yet to be announced Sony Ericsson smartphone have made their way onto the internets. What we’re looking at here is a device that runs Windows Phone 7, has a slide out QWERTY keyboard, and that’s pretty much all we know. When will this handset be announced, how much will it cost, when will it actually end up on store shelves? We’ve got no idea. Now for the more interesting question: How exactly is Sony Ericsson going to differentiate themselves compared to other vendors building Windows Phone 7 devices? They’re probably not going to offer both Microsoft’s XBOX Live mobile gaming service and the Sony PSP Store. They can stick some high end screens and camera sensors in there, but then again Sony also sells those components to other vendors, in much the same way Samsung does. So the only thing we’re left with is design. Historically Sony Ericsson has produced some fabulous looking devices, but these images don’t really adjust our gadget lust levels to 11.
Let’s not forget that Microsoft also dictates what they call “chassis”. It’s a set of hardware specifications that all of their Windows Phone devices have to adhere to. If they want everyone to use Qualcomm chips, then everyone has to use Qualcomm chips. If they want everyone to have an 800 x 480 pixel resolution screen, then no one can even think of trying to innovate. It’s why many analysts aren’t quite convinced that the platform will be as successful as Microsoft wants it to be, and why many think Nokia made the wrong move when they decided to forfeit their smartphone strategy and become just another licensee.
It’s still early days though. Windows Phone is less than 6 months old, I’m sure they’ll be numerous updates done to the platform, and maybe, just maybe, Microsoft will nail it after the second or third version of their new OS.