Establishing regional presence in China is important to better support Chinese wireless developers and ensure that the company’s growth in the region is fuelled with attractive mobile content and applications for Chinese mobile users.

China has become one of the world’s most dynamic mobile markets, and mobile content and applications are playing an increasingly important role. There has been a strong growth in non-voice services in China. The use of smartphones is growing rapidly. Reports show that mobile music revenues today are greater than traditional music sales. There is huge interest in content and Sony Ericsson is committed to actively supporting the growing Chinese developer community.

“Sony Ericsson is not only committed to the development of easy to use mobile phones and accessories with attractive design and innovative functionality, but also attaches significant importance to providing fun, practical and innovative content, applications and services with our products. By doing so, Sony Ericsson can offer key operator customers an attractive value proposition and consumers a rich multimedia lifestyle experience,” said Gunilla Nordstrom, President of Sony Ericsson China. “Sony Ericsson Developer World has been very successful globally and important in order to stimulate and support applications development. Its official launch in China further showcases the company's long-term commitment to the China market."

Sony Ericsson Developer World has a lot of experience in helping third party developers bring their applications to market through various channels. Sony Ericsson provides support and guidance to developers, from initial application idea, through the development process, certification, and selection for pre-load or downloading from one of Sony Ericsson’s portals.

“Sony Ericsson Developer World has in only a few years become one of the top online global developer resources and is today considered the leading technical resource for mobile 3D game development and for music,” said Ulf Wretling General Manager, Head of Global Content Planning & Management for Sony Ericsson. “Our aim is to increase subscriber ARPU and loyalty for operator customers by making the best developers target our phones and helping them achieve business success. We hope Chinese developers can quickly become a strong force in the Sony Ericsson Developer World community and also help create content for the global market.”

Sony Ericsson Developer World will target a broad range of developers in China and provide dedicated services and support in the local language. The mission is to equip strategic content partners in China and the Chinese developer community with the tools, information and support required for them to be able to effectively deliver top-tier content on Sony Ericsson GSM and UMTS phones.

Also launched today is a Chinese Web section on the global Sony Ericsson Developer World portal, offering technical documentation, tools, go to market and application certification information in Chinese. There are already close to 20 different Developers’ Guidelines, special interest papers and tutorials available in Chinese for Symbian OS™ UIQ and Java™ ME developers. By registering as a Community member, developers can also subscribe to a Chinese monthly developer newsletter. A registered member has the opportunity to be evaluated as a Premier partner and get more dedicated partner support including prototypes for application development and testing, dedicated tech email support, 3rd party certification support, and face to face meetings with partner and content acquisition managers to receive early market information etc. Over time, more interactive community features in Chinese will be introduced, like Wiki’s, forums and other fun and useful tools, today available on the global, English portal. It is free of charge for developers to join the program.

Sony Ericsson is actively exploring different content and application distribution channels in China. Opportunities for Chinese developers include: preloaded applications on China-specific phone versions; Sony Ericsson’s own PlayNow™over-the-air download service which is featured with China Mobile and offers music, games and video content; a business content and application portal and retail distribution models; China Mobile’s Web based service MIDC, showing a fast growth rate in revenues for themes, ringtones, pictures, video and games, supporting 26 Sony Ericsson phones as of April 2007. There are also global opportunities for skilled Chinese developers to be evaluated as global partners and bring something creative and unique to the European and American markets, for distribution through Sony Ericsson Fun & Downloads, Application Shop or preloading on global handsets.

Beyond the resources and support that Sony Ericsson Developer World has already outlined, Sony Ericsson China has initiated a strategic cooperation with 21st Capital, an international venture capital firm headquartered in the US, with the aim to jointly seek and invest in valuable content and applications from Chinese developers for Sony Ericsson mobile phones and other distribution channels owned by 21st Capital.

The China telecoms market is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, and a key market for Sony Ericsson. Since August 2002, when the company first established operations in China, Sony Ericsson has turned China into a strategic base that includes research, design, development, manufacturing and regional sales and marketing.

The Chinese resources for Sony Ericsson Developer World can be found at www.SonyEricsson.com/developer/china