PopCap Games moves into Europe with Sony Ericsson deal.

WorldWide Tech  and Science. Francisco DeJesús.

Casual games company PopCap signed a global agreement with Sony Ericsson which will see its games pre-loaded on some of the vendor’s handsets, which will “officially mark the arrival of PopCap’s game titles on Android devices in Europe.” 

A number of PopCap titles, including Plants vs Zombies, Peggle and Chuzzle (pictured), will be embedded in Sony Ericsson’s Xperia mini and Xperia mini pro handsets from “later this summer.” The deal does not include Sony Ericsson’s Xperia play smartphone, which is designed specifically for mobile handsets.

The deal will see Chuzzle being included on devices in its full form, while Peggle and Plants vs Zombies will be in unlimited trial modes – with the option to purchase full editions of the games using a directly integrated billing service.

Last week, PopCap announced it is to be acquired by gaming giant EA, in order to bolster its position in the mobile and social gaming markets. The deal is expected to close next month.

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Sony Ericsson pushed into the red after Japan earthquake. Xperias strong demand.

WorldWide Tech and Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Sony Ericsson announced mixed news for the second quarter of 2011, with supply chain constraints resulting from the Japanese earthquake “significantly” impacting its Q2 results, but with the company also capitalising on growth in the smartphone market. 

However, the period also saw the company going into the red, after a number of positive quarters: it reported a net loss for the period of EUR50 million, compared with a prior-year profit of EUR12 million, on sales of EUR1.19 billion, down from EUR1.76 billion. 

The company also reported a negative cash flow from operations of EUR224 million, which was attributed to “increases in accounts receivables and inventories, negative net income and timing of certain payments.” New external borrowing of EUR165 million was made during the quarter, resulting in total borrowing of EUR769 million at the end of the quarter. Its total cash balance at 30 June stood at EUR516 million.

During the quarter, the company shipped 7.6 million units, down from 11 million in the prior year's three-month period, with the company noting an anticipated drop in feature phone shipments. Bert Nordberg, President and CEO (pictured), said: “We estimate that the impact of earthquake-related supply chain constraints on our portfolio was close to 1.5 million units, with most of the effect in the early part of the quarter.” Sony Ericsson said that smartphones now represent more than 70 percent of its total sales, with volumes of its Android-based Xperia line up 150 percent year-on-year. 

The company has introduced eight new Xperia devices this year, and it “continues to see strong consumer and operator demand” across this portfolio. It estimates that its share of the global Android handset market was 11 percent, in both value and volume terms. Sequentially, it saw an increase in average selling prices to EUR156 from EUR141, which it said was attributable to a favourable product and geographic mix.

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Sony Ericsson unveils Android, featurephone devices.

WorldWide Tech & Scince. Francisco De Jesús.

Sony Xperia Active

Sony Ericsson announced two more Android smartphones, which it said “offer consumers unique design and technology for an entertaining experience.” 

The company said that Xperia ray is targeted at customers who want a “sleek and beautiful design,” with a 9.4mm form factor and 3.3-inch screen. It has a 1GHz processor, and uses Sony technology such as a Mobile Bravia image engine and Exmor R 8.1MP camera.

 Xperia active has a compact design and is dust proof and water resistant, and also “uniquely incorporates wet finger tracking.” It also comes “pre-loaded with sports apps.” Both devices are powered by the latest version of the Android platform (Gingerbread 2.3).

In addition, the company announced a new featurephone, called txt, which has a full QWERTY keypad and SMS shortcut key. It also has a “friends” application which enables users to see Facebook and Twitter updates from their top-five friends. 

The device will be available in multiple colours, and will go on sale “globally in selected markets” from the third quarter. For its Android device owners, the company has added two new products to its Smart Extras accessory range. LiveDock is a docking station which “gives consumers the ability to seamlessly integrate their Sony Ericsson smartphone into their home,” while LiveSound is a wireless headphone accessory.

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Sony Ericsson announces two new Xperia smartphones.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Active

New devices will be available from third quarter of this year.

Handset maker Sony Ericsson Tuesday announced two new additions to its Xperia smartphone portfolio.

The Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson and Sony Corp. joint venture said that the two new additions, the Xperia ray and the Xperia active, will be available from the third quarter this year.

The Xperia Active is a dust-proof and water-resistant device, with a dual-core cpu, while the Xperia Ray is a 9.4 millimeter thick device sporting a 8.1 megapixel camera.

Sony Ericsson also announced that Xperia users in the U.S., France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, U.K., Australia and New Zealand will be given access to Sony's recently announced "Music Unlimited" service, a cloud-based, digital music service that allows streaming access to 7 million licensed songs from major record labels.

It also said its Xperia Play handset, which includes gaming functionality from Sony's PlayStation console, has been made available across more markets in the Asia Pacific region.

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