Sony Ericsson Indian Strategy

Mobile handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson on Wednesday announced setting up of mobile Research and Development (R&D) unit in India to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest growing wireless market. The R&D centre would come up at Chennai, the company said in a statement. The company had earlier in January announced its plans of sourcing locally manufactured phones in Chennai with partners like Flextronics and Foxconn, with a production target of 10 million units by 2009. Sony Ericsson, however, did not disclose planned investments in the R&D centre.

Sony Ericsson said the R&D centre in India is a part of its global strategy to reach the top three positions in the global handset market. The new centre would become a part of Sony Ericsson’s global network of R&D units in countries including China, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and the UK. Sony Ericsson estimates the Indian mobile phone market to have doubled last year, as more than 62 million handsets were sold in the last 12 months.