The P-Series has been a considerable success for Sony Ericsson. Its latest incarnation, the P910, was announced in July last year and has been in retail channels since October. In the fast paced mobile phone market the P910, despite it advanced features, could become eclipsed by newer phones. To address this issue Sony Ericsson have a continuous refresh program, designed to keep the P910 looking fresh and innovative. New applications, introduced as a result of the Sony Ericsson Developer World program (which acts as a catalyst for securing a variety of business, personal productivity, games and entertainment applications for Sony Ericsson's Java and Symbian OS based phones) have been key to the latest refresh.

"There is one significant advantage new smartphone technology has when it comes to marketing," explains of Oskar Lampel, Sony Ericsson's Smartphone Product Manager. "This is the ability to use third party software to drive marketing activities around phones like the P910. Historically we may have given our phones a 'boost' by repackaging them with a new cover or some small feature enhancement. With an open operating system like Symbian OS, we can continually showcase a phone by highlighting its capabilities with new software. This is very much a win-win situation for us and the developers; we get to show off our smartphone and the developer's applications are promoted."

Another significant advantage of this approach is that, unlike design changes to the phone that have significant lead times, a software based approach allows Sony Ericsson to act quickly on market demands. Consumer and enterprise trends in the use of their smartphones can be rapidly reflected in try and buy software bundled with the phones. It is precisely this approach which has driven the current repackaging of the P910 with a range of navigation and security applications.

"We have seen rapid growth in navigation applications in Europe," says Oskar. "This has been driven by all-in-one devices such as those from companies like Garmin as well as through the trend of including navigation systems in cars. Both systems have disadvantages; the all-in-ones are bulky while in-car systems pricey and not portable. We think that the P910 offers a better way. In fact we have had enquiries from several car manufacturers looking at this as an alternative to built-in navigation systems."

Oskar characterizes the applications being showcased as falling into two categories, on-board and off-board. On-board navigation applications store all the map information in the device. The advantage is speed of response and the ability to use the systems without network access. Off-board applications provide mapping information from a remote server. These systems are often preferred by operators, because they generate data traffic, but also offer the consumer the ability to travel without having to think about the maps they need to take.

This has resulted in Sony Ericsson promoting Appello's WisePilot and Wayfinder, two server based navigation systems, along with Route 66 and Tom Tom, on-board navigation products, on the P910's product homepage and the latest in-box CD.

One obvious issue with navigation software is that is requires a separate GPS unit. "In many markets GPS units are commonly available so it is easy for a user to find one," says Oskar. "However, in markets, such as Italy and Germany, we have created retail bundles including the GPS, software and phone." Wayfinder also provides a bundle of application and GPS through Sony Ericsson's Application Shop.

Has this interest in navigation software affected the planning for future devices? "Today I believe GPS hardware is too bulky to practically add it to smartphones," says Oskar. "There is also the issue of cost. Until we see a significant proportion of users demanding these types of applications the justification for adding GPS to the devices is limited. Separate GPS units give the user flexibility. However I don't think it will be too long before GPS is built in as we are starting to see a desire from operators for better positioning information for their location based applications, as network methods are not very good."

The second major thrust is security applications.

"Users of smartphones are becoming aware that these devices offer PC like capabilities. The media has also realized this and the fact that there is the potential for a smartphone to be affected by some of the unpleasant things that can happen in the PC world, like viruses," say Oskar. "So, in addition to user education, we wanted to show that, although there are no current threats to our smartphones, applications are available for the P910 which can address these concerns."

This has resulted in the bundling of a range of FB-4 security applications and an application from SplashData with the P910. The FB-4 applications include SMS Guard, which filters SMS messages, PIN Guard, which encrypts and password protects phone data, and VirusGuard.

Does including an anti-virus application with the P910 send the wrong message? "The issue for us has been that, while there have been no threats to any UIQ-based smartphone, including the P910, the popular media have focused on the possible threat to smartphones," says Oskar. "We have been working to educate P910 users about ensuring they load software they can trust, by looking for Symbian Signed applications, and not accepting items unexpectedly delivered over Bluetooth. The try and buy software shows that if users don't take these precautions there are applications that can protect them."

FB-4 VirusGuard also shows how smartphone applications can be as sophisticated and easy to use while being feature rich as PC software. VirusGuard offers automatic virus signature update and scans for email and MMS with minimal user intervention.

The other security application is previewed last year.

One of the steps Sony Ericsson has made in improving the security of its smartphones has been to mandate Symbian Signed for all the applications sold in the Sony Ericsson Application Shop. Has this meant that some applications have been removed? "While the original plan in support of the Symbian Signed launch last year was to make Sony Ericsson Application Shop exclusively for signed applications, and it is required for all new applications, we have not forced earlier unsigned applications out," says Oskar. "Thankfully, some of our existing partners have rigorous quality processes in place ensuring that they have been able to deliver high-quality applications that consumers safely can download. Old, unsigned applications will eventually be phased out together with older smartphone versions being replaced in the market."

Currently there are some 2000 Symbian Signed applications in the market, of which about 30% are for UIQ-based smartphones, distributed through various channels.

Oskar also points to some other statistics which show the success of the P910. The P910 sells a greater value of software per customer than any other device on Handango. Some operators have reported an ARPU 4 times higher with the P910 compared to the average for phones. Perhaps the one figure which shows how the P-series has driven the smartphone concept is that close to 30 percent of all UIQ applications have been ported from existing PDA platforms.

"We have seen that the P-series has driven the smartphone sector," says Oskar. "We expect in the future to continue this evolution, broadening the target group and general market acceptance of smartphones."

So what about the future? "Sony Ericsson is committed to Symbian OS for our smartphones and Symbian OS v9 is a very important development," says Oskar. "It will offer us, and all manufacturers, the opportunity to increase the volume of the smartphone market. We certainly expect smartphones to move further towards the mid-price range. We expect the wider adoption to create new opportunities for us and third party developers." Does this mean a wider range of smartphone styles? "For Symbian OS phones as a whole, yes. We are convinced about the UIQ form factor which suits the needs of a productive smartphone user very well, so we are focusing on that track for future models," says Oskar.

More information about market metrics and Sony Ericsson's keynote presentation at the recent Handango Partner Summit.

More information about software for the Sony Ericsson http://www.sonyericsson.com/p910/software/index.html

Technical resources for developers of www.SonyEricsson.com/developer).