Walkman phone

Walkman is Sony's audio cassette player brand, now used to market its portable audio and video players. The original Walkman introduced a change in music listening habits, allowing people to carry their own choice of music with them. After losing a large portion of the market to other companies, Sony's latest attempt to revive the Walkman brand involves a series of music-centred mobile phones marketed under the Sony Ericsson brand.

The first launched W800 and W550 have numerous audio capabilities including playlists, audio equalisation, support for the M4A audio file format, and the ability to operate only as music player, with the telephony electronics switched off. It also includes standard mobile phone features, such as a 2 megapixel auto-focus camera. The W550/W600 will have 256 MB of internal memory, while the W800 includes a 512 MB Memory Stick.

The popularity of Walkman-branded telephones may be an indication that the portable audio and mobile telephone markets are beginning to converge. Walkman phones are equipped with applications such as Track ID, PlayNow and M-BUZZ and as of June 2007 Sony Ericsson claims to have sold over 26.5 million Walkman phones since the launch in September 2005. Sony Ericsson is seen to have had the most success with converging music and mobile phones, largely attributed to the Walkman heritage and expertise from Sony.

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