Sony Ericsson presents its new range of Walkman music mobile phones

These are primarily mobile phones; yet a major part for their widespread appeal derives from their music capabilities.

Aside from their playback capabilities, these music phones from Sony Ericsson have the intuitive Disc2Phone® PC software, which allows easy and fast uploads of music, and are Bluetooth-enabled, giving their users the flexibility to share their favourite music - two significant features that explain the growing popularity of the Sony Ericsson Walkman phones.

"We have witnessed radical changes as to how people communicate. The range of technology available in the market now not only allows people to connect through words and images, but also through music,"

said Husni El-Assi, General Manager of Sony Ericsson, Middle East and Africa.

The first in a series of Walkman-branded phones, the Sony Ericsson W800i gives music enthusiasts a great gadget with which to enjoy all their favourite tunes, and more. It offers an MP3 player capable of storing up to 125 tracks of digital music or 10-12 albums to be taken from the user's CD collection via an easy-to-use computer software. It also has a 2-megapixel digital camera as well as e-mail support, messaging, infrared, Bluetooth and web browsing features that make the W800 features-packed winner.

Fresh from the amazing success of its W800i phone, which cleverly re-introduced the Walkman magic to the new generation, Sony Ericsson then introduced thefirst Walkman UMTS handset, the W900i, a swivel action 3G phone capable of super-fast downloads of all types of multimedia from music and videos to high-quality graphics.

"We've bundled an amazing set of multi-media features our Wlakman series, to ensure we have a Walkman phone targeted at different segments of the market," added El-Assi. This includes the W550i which caters specifically for the musically-inclined youth market. The spin-flip design is immediately noticeable in the W550i, and the two internal stereo speakers will definitely appeal to music lovers.

"The Sony Ericsson Walkman® series has captured the imagination of mobile users who prefer just a bit more entertainment in their handsets. This is a particularly attractive segment, considering both its size and influence, and which is partly the reason for the immense popularity of the Walkman series," said El-Assi.

Going from strength to strength, Sony Ericsson then made new significant additions to the Walkman series with the launch of the quad-band EDGE W810 and the UMTS-enabled W950. Both phones make music downloads and sharing faster and more convenient.

"With the W810 has a removable 512MB memory stick that can be upgraded to an unrivalled 2GB, allowing consumers to store a wealth of music tracks, photos, video and other multimedia files on the phone," said El-Assi.

Mobile users who want a bigger storage capacity will be happy to have the stylish W950 with its 4GB storage and a convenient touch screen feature for simple navigation through the playlists and other features of the slim handset. Broadband-speed email and Web browsing capabilities make this phone's value proposition even more attractive to mobile users.

With a variety of Walkman phones on offer, Sony Ericsson underscored the depth of its creative and technical capabilities with phones that are able to address different customer needs and life-style choices.

From high-end UMTS models aimed at users who want to enjoy over-the-air downloads, high-speed email and internet connectivity to models targeting more casual music listeners, Sony Ericsson aims to sustain the market-leading position of the Walkman music phones.