SONY ERICSSON Launches its smartphone in Kenya

Sony Ericsson in cooperation with Safaricom and Krishna International Ltd.

XPERIA X10 a new range of phones by Sony Ericsson have been introduced in the Kenyan market. The new product range is of exciting new smart-phones based on the Android platform into the Kenyan market.

Sony Ericsson which brings Kenyan consumers the latest in optimum communication and entertainment through at the same time, introduces an open and integrated world of social media, communication and entertainment via mobile.

Products unveiled include the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, mini but mighty versions of the Xperia X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro. Jorgen Berg, Sony Ericsson General Manager for Market Unit AST - a part of CEEMEA region, who hosted the media, members of the corporate world, and the trade community expressed the importance of launching the Xperia range and the partnership with Safaricom and Krishna International Ltd.

Sony Ericsson has joined the league of innovators by introducing the XPERIA™ X10, the first phone in a family of phones to deliver a consistent user experience where communication truly becomes entertainment. Building on Sony Ericsson’s entertainment heritage and combining rich graphics with intelligence capabilities, the XPERIA™ X10 introduces a new UX platform that will evolve across product portfolio and expand over time continuously introducing new features and capabilities.

The UX platform builds on top of the Open OS and creating a unique Sony Ericsson user experience by combining best-in-class entertainment features with signature applications, unrivalled integration of social media services and a rich graphical user interface. The XPERIA™ X10 is the first mobile phone to truly humanise the way people interact with their phones.

To further in phone innovations, xperia x10 comes with new signature applications like Mediascape and Timescape, which lets consumers organise everything in their phone in an intuitive way:

The pocket-sized handsets x10 mini enable consumers to co-create an experience that is as individual as they are. The clever graphical user interface, with four customisable touch corners and intuitive navigation, opens up limitless possibilities and access to favourite applications and web links with just one touch. Build a unique mobile phone experience and download games, movies, music and thousands of free and best-selling applications at.

The Timescape manages all your communication with one person in one place. Browse through your conversations the bright way to check out your Facebook, Twitter™, photos, emails, and texts all in one go while the Mediascape is the smart way to get all the music, photos and videos you want from your favourite friends and artists. It accesses content from everywhere your phone, YouTube, PlayNow and presents everything for you.

Other notable features include Intelligence capabilities, integrated into Mediascape and Timescape can automatically recognise connections between contacts, content and media. By recommending alternative ways to communicate or guiding to new media experiences, consumers can discover more in a truly open way like pressing the new “infinite button” guides you through the connected world, aggregating all your interactions with one person into one view and intelligent face recognition features recognise up to five faces in any picture, automatically connecting them with your social phonebook and all other related communications with that person.

Speaking during the launch Safaricom Head of Retail, Morris Maina said “The quest for increased data penetration and usage in Kenya has always been constrained by lack of breadth when it comes to data-enabled devices in the market. As Safaricom, we are actively working with our partners to narrow this divide and put data-enabled devices in the hands of as many customers as possible while improving the utility of devices on our network. Our partnership with Sony Ericsson snugly fits into this active strategy.”

Mr Maina added that increased availability of internet-ready devices would enable customers to take advantage of the country’s best data infrastructure which Safaricom has put together.

With a subscriber base of over 16 million, Safaricom offers all telecoms services under one roof: mobile and fixed voice and data services on a variety of platforms: Kenya’s widest and only 3G network; a growing fibre optic cable footprint and its most expansive WIMAX presence.

“The Xperia™ X10 mini and Xperia™ X10 mini pro are clever mobile phones which characterize communication entertainment”, said Jorgen Berg, “We have pushed the boundaries to deliver two compact and smart handsets. Not only are they mini, but they are filled with great features consumers desire; like a touch screen, entertainment and content. For those who want a one-handed experience the Xperia™ X10 mini offers ultimate control and the keyboard of Xperia™ X10 mini pro allows for quick and powerful messaging or mailing with the QWERTY slider keypad.”

On his part, Venkata Dinesh, Managing Director of Krishna International Ltd regional distributor for Sony Ericsson said, “We are proud to have partnered with Safaricom for this exclusive launch and as we move forward our emphasis will be on quality sales and service support to all our customers.” adding “With the growing importance of the East African region, we are committed to reinforcement of the Sony Ericsson brand and grow its portfolio.”

Krishna International Ltd is a leading global services company in telecom industry based in East Africa offering distribution solutions to device manufacturers, operators, wholesalers, retailers and enterprises, and is the official distributor for Sony Ericsson mobile phones for East and Central Africa and central Asia offering large global reach to enhance its offerings and grow its loyal customer-base with leverage on wireless revolution.