2007 Wrap Up. 2008 Predictions. (Part 2)

28th December 2007

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Sony Ericsson

"Walkman" and "Cyber-shot" branded handsets have dominated during 2007. Expect to see the first European "Bravia" handsets during 2008, otherwise Sony Ericsson's new releases will follow the pattern set in 2007.

One problem that Sony Ericsson have is the lack of high-end phones. The Sony Ericsson P1i isn't the replacement for the P990 that we were hoping for, and it certainly isn't as exciting to use as the iPhone (although the P1i is more sophisticated in many ways). There's a good chance that Sony Ericsson will come up with something much more impressive in early 2008 - perhaps it's time to make a Vaio Phone?

Motorola

Last year we accurately predicted that Motorola's sales would plummet due to their RAZR addiction.. and sales and earnings did just that. Motorola's products during 2007 have either been dull, flawed or very late, and consumers are looking elsewhere.

The recent change of CEO will help somewhat, but we don't expect to see anything interesting from Motorola until the second half of 2008. We do understand that Motorola are working on an N95-class handset, but unfortunately they're playing catch up, and the competition are not standing still.

We expect things to get worse at Motorola before they get better, and Motorola will find it hard to rebuild customer loyalty. However, Motorola's new management team should be able to turn the company around in time.

Samsung

With a competent line-up of handsets in 2007, but one lacking any real stars, Samsung Mobile had a pretty good year.. but weak branding and a muddled range are two things holding Samsung back.

As well as a number of pretty decent sliders, Samsung also came out with the mad Samsung Serenata which shows a refreshing approach to design. The G600 and G800 are also two good heavyweight camera phones.

Samsung don't seem to be inclined to sharpen up their act though - expect to see a huge raft of varied phones announced during 2008.. but don't expect to see them all come to market.

LG

Probably the company that has tried the hardest during 2007, the LG PRADA, Shine, Viewty and KS20 certainly have plenty of "wow factor", but LG have found it hard to make an impression.

If the PRADA had been made by Nokia, then it would have been a huge hit.. but as it was, the PRADA was a bit of a flash in the pan, and the Viewty may well have the same problem.

LG are part of the Open Handset Alliance - we suspect that they will be among the first to come up with an Android-based phone in 2008.

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